Off-campus access to research databases is restricted to current CSU faculty, staff, and students.

To access research databases from off-campus, you will have to authenticate first -- select Cleveland State University, and then enter your Name, CSU ID No., and Library PIN. If you don't have a Library PIN yet, then you can create one on the My Account page.

-Many articles are available full text online in HTML or PDF format inside the research databases.

-If not, then select the yellow Find It! button or the Full Text Finder(s) link to determine the availability of a specific article when searching the databases. You may be able to connect to the full text of the article in another database. Just follow the links!

-If the article is NOT available in the database or by selecting the other links, then check Journals at CSU. Use Journals at CSU to determine if the Library provides full text access (either online or in print) to the TITLES of specific journals, magazines, and newspapers.

-Search for the article title in Google Scholar.

-If the article is not available in any of the sources mentioned above, then request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Use Interlibrary Loan Services to get articles you need that are not in the Michael Schwartz Library or available online.

Articles are published in periodicals -- JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, and NEWSPAPERS. To find articles on a topic, search the Michael Schwartz Library's Research Databases.

The databases are listed in Alphabetical Order by Title and grouped by Subject Category on the Library's website. The Library also provides access to several Newspaper Research Databases.

Research Databases contain citations or references to articles published in various journals, magazines, and newspapers. Research Databases also contain the full text of many articles, either in HTML or PDF format. The Library pays to provide access to these Research Databases -- they are not free!

For academic research, you should include articles from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. These journals are sometimes called refereed journals.

In the peer review process, an article is reviewed by experts before it is published in a scholarly journal.

Most Research Databases will allow you to LIMIT your results to peer-reviewed journals when searching.

Start with some of the Research Databases listed below to locate articles on a topic.

Make sure to search Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, SocINDEX with Full Text, and Urban Studies Abstracts! These databases are especially useful for topics related to Urban Studies. If you are looking for news articles, then use the Newspaper Research Databases.

If the article is not available full text in the database you are searching, remember to click on the Check for Full Text link. See the instructions to the left for Accessing the Full Text of an Article.