In most essays and assignments, and certainly in literature reviews, you are expected to locate relevant scholarly journal articles.

You can search for journal articles in Primo Search, but you can also search for journal articles on a topic in a journal database, or package of databases.

You can access online journal databases in a number of ways. The main way is via the Library’s Journal Databases webpage

A database is an organised collection of information records that can be accessed electronically. In the Library this includes databases which have:

• journal article (and other) citations, where there is no full-text;
• journal article (and other) citations, where all records have the full-text attached;
• a mixture of the first two above (this is the most common);
• other types of records, eg. videos, images, or listings of people or companies.

A database platform is a company which provides access to a number of databases, via a search interface unique to that company, where the databases can be searched/browsed individually or together.

The 4 main database platforms, and examples of databases/collections they contain

It is important to realise that, once you are in one of the database platforms, you can search across a number of databases at the same time. In some cases, the Library provides a package of subject-related databases that are in the same platform. Two examples of this are:

• EBSCOhost (Health)
• ProQuest Health and Medicine Databases.

See also Other Databases for more on these two packages.

Most library databases comprise journals and articles, which is why CSU Library calls them Journal Databases.

Usually, if an article has full-text available, there will be a link somewhere close to the record.

If there is no full text link, you can click on the  link to search for the full article in other databases to which CSU subscribes.

Follow the prompts to go via Primo Search to the article record in the new database, with a link to the full item.

If you are having trouble getting the full-text of an item, please contact the Library.