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Does your syllabus say research paper? Or are you a researcher trying to get a
handle on a field that's new to you?
In either case, and anytime you're looking for a place to start
give MNCAT Article Discovery a try. MNCAT
Article Discovery is the first search option on the Articles and Databases
page
at the Libraries website. You can also get there after you've done a search in
our main catalog, MNCAT,
by clicking the MNCAT Article Discovery link above the search box.
The Libraries licenses hundreds of other databases that index articles and more.
So what makes MNCAT Article Discovery different?
MNCAT Article Discovery is meant to complement
rather than replace our rich collection of licensed databases.
Rather than focusing on a particular discipline, MNCAT
Article Discovery allows you to search the overwhelming majority of articles
and other materials currently licensed by the Libraries.
you can find out just what's included at z.umn.edu/pci.
In this way
MNCAT Article Discovery is a lot like Google Scholar:
You can use it to discover a broad range literature for any search.
Searches in MNCAT Article Discovery don't yield as many results is Google
Scholar searches,
but if you want to look beyond the first few results, then MNCAT Article
Discovery offer some distinct advantages
First, for any result you have a direct link to the content itself.
Click the View Online link and you'll see options for full text,
or to search for print or request via Interlibrary Loan.
You can get similar functionality in Google Scholar,
but not without changing settings in your Google account. Second,
with Google Scholar you have very few options for refining or narrowing your
search once you have the result.
With MNCAT Article Discovery's facets along the left side you can
fine-tune your result
and bring the most helpful articles for you to the top of the list.
For example, if you know you need peer-reviewed articles
you can narrow the result to just those with one click.
If you want to get a broad overview of the subject you can choose Reviews in
the Material Type facet.
You'll end up with a list of articles that were written to bring together
information on the current state of research in the area.
Like its sister MNCAT, our library catalog, MNCAT
Article Discovery also provides an a e-shelf for saving items.
email and print features, and an easy export to Refworks or Endnote Web.
Later this academic year we plan to combine MNCAT
and MNCAT Article Discovery into one tool, MNCAT Discovery.
If you only want to see items that are on our shelves or in a particular
collection
you will be able to easily filter out articles and other online items.
But when you want to choose from a broad range results
then MNCAT Discovery will provide it. MNCAT
Article Discovery makes it easy to find a variety of sources for nearly any
topic
and introduces you to items you may not have found otherwise
But it's not everything. If you need to do a comprehensive search for a
systematic review or a dissertation,
to explore facets of a topic in great detail,
or to find specialized information like material properties that isn't indexed,
you should still use our specialized databases.
Once you've reached MNCAT Article Discovery's limits, check out our subject
guides
and contact the peer research consultant or a subject librarian for individual
assistance