On-Line Resources and how to Use them: JSTOR - Available via the PCA Library Website

JStor for your Academic Research Needs

JSTOR is a searchable archive of over a thousand leading academic journals across the arts, humanities and social sciences (reproduced in digital facsimile as originally designed, printed and illustrated) complementing research in core disciplines such as history, political science, sociology, art and art history, and language and literature. 

This guide will take you through searching JSTOR.  It offers an archive of the full text of an increasingly wide range of journals. It does not provide access to the most current issues.

Searching

It is possible to search every article in the collection, using keywords.  This will automatically search all types of journal content (articles, editorials, reviews etc.)

Click on SEARCH

In the search box type in the search terms you are looking  for. 

Then click on the Search button.

HINT: A search word or phrase can be typed in upper or lower case; common words such as ‚at‛ or‚ in‛ will be ignored. 

Search results

Your search results are listed with the most relevant items appearing first (those in which your search term occurred most frequently).  

You can use the pick-list at the top of the results list to sort your results in other ways

Select your preferred choice then click on the Go button.  Scroll down the page to view the list of results.

The title and author of the article are displayed, as well as details about where the article appeared (including journal title, volume, part, year and the page numbers), for example:

Click on the title of the article (red link) to view more details and the full-text (use the blue arrows to move from page to page).

Click on the name of the author (grey link) to see other articles by that author. Click on Item Information (grey link) to view brief bibliographic details.

Click on the Page of First Match (grey link) to view the page of the article where your search term first appears.

Click on PDF to view the article in Adobe Reader (this is a more reader-friendly format, and allows you to print or save the full-text article – see below)

To conduct a new search use the Search box that appears at the top of the screen.

HINT: You can return to the basic Search screen at any time during your JSTOR session by clicking  on the Search link in the menu-bar at the top of the screen.

Printing full-text articles

To Print the full-text of your results:

1.  Go to the Search Results list.

2.  Click on the grey PDF link for the article. It will open in a new browser window.

3.   Click on the Printer icon on the Adobe toolbar  

Saving full-text  articles

To Save a full-text article, simply follow the steps above and click on the Save link instead of the Print link.

Choose where you want to save the article, and then click to save it as an Adobe document.

Search tips

Search operators

There are three basic search operators - these allow you to combine your search words in different ways to narrow or broaden your search. The operators are:

AND     - use to combine different concepts, eg

Costume and Shakespeare

OR       - use to include synonyms in your search, eg

Artist or Painter

NOT      - use to exclude words from your search, eg

Photography not digital

Searching for different word endings and alternative spellings

Use the wildcard symbol ? to substitute for 0 or 1 character in the middle or at the end of a word. This is particularly useful for covering English and American spelling and for some plurals eg wom?n retrieves both women and woman.

You can use multiple ? to match more than one letter for example bird??? will retrieve all words up to seven letters long that start bird including bird, birds and birdman.

Use the ampersand & to search for the plural forms of a word. The search engine will add

s’s, es’s, double z’s and  s’s, change y to ies and  f to v where applicable  eg

box& retrieves both box and boxes quiz& retrieves both quiz and quizzes knife& retrieves both knife and knives

Limiting searches

The Advanced Search option allows you to be more specific about your search terms and the journals that you wish to search. The Advanced Option link appears under the Main Search box.

Type your search terms into the appropriate boxes and click on the Search button, for example:-

This search would find you articles on Photoshop and CC but not CS3.

The drop-down menu allows you to search for key words within the article (full- text) or item title, as well as for a particular author.

Scroll down the Advanced Search page to view more options to narrow your search.

Specify the type of material that you want to search for by clicking  in the appropriate boxes

Limit the date range you want to search by typing dates into the appropriate boxes

You can also select a specific journal to search, either by typing the name of the journal into the box provided or by using the list at the bottom of the page. Click on the red arrow sign next to a subject area to expand it and then select the required journal from the list that appears by clicking in the corresponding box. It is possible to select multiple titles in this way. There is also an option to limit by language.

TIP If you click in the box next to the subject area it will select all the journals in that subject area.

If you do not select any Fields, Types, Dates or Journals then it will search all the content of all the journals in the database.

If the article you require does not have either of these options it is not available in full text on JStor.  However, it may be available in print form, please check the Library’s Journal Page for a full listing of Journals we take and what the holdings are. Alternatively please ask at the Library Counter or email us at library@pca.ac.uk and we will do our best to locate a copy for you.

Finishing your search

Logout if you have a JSTOR account. Close your internet browser. You will also need to close the other browser windows that opened when you logged onto the database.

To access JSTOR from outside the PCA Network, you can log on via the Library Webpage

Click on the Link for Databases available through the Library. Page down until you come to the link for JStor. Click on the Link. You will then be presented with the JStor Search Screen and you can start your search.

OR 
Search Google for JStor and select the JStor website from the list.

1. Click on Login button upper right

2. Either scroll through the list of colleges and universities until you find Plymouth College of Art OR search for Plymouth College of Art.
3. Select Plymouth College of Art
4. You will be asked for a username and password. The username is your college username and the password is the password that you use for that account.

If you need any help accessing JStor please ask at the Library Counter for help.