It's best to determine what kind of information you have found. More than likely your information will fall into one of the following categories. Below is a summary of each.

Citation

A citation provides information about the article. It includes the following:

author name	page numbers
article title	date published
title of the journal, magazine or newspaper	volume, issue and date

 

 

 

 

Abstract

An abstract is a summary of the article. Many times it accompanies a citation or the full-text article. The abstract is used to determine whether or not the article is of value for the research.

Full Text

Many electronic databases (also referred to as indexes) contain the full-text of an article. Not every electronic database contains full-text; some offer only citations and abstracts.

If you have the full text of an article, Congratuations! If you have a citation and/or abstract and need more assistance, Ask a Librarian!