JSTOR provides online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in a variety of academic disciplines including the arts, business, demographic studies, humanities, social sciences, and science.
1. Begin by accessing the main database page from the Library homepage and select the "Articles & Databases" link:
2. Choose JSTOR from the alphabetical list of databases:
3. The opening page for JSTOR appears in the following screen shot. The default search is a "keyword anywhere," but try accessing the "Advanced Search" feature to expand your search options:
4. The Advanced Search page is shown below. From top to bottom, take note of: 1) multiple search boxes to allow multiple keyword searches all at once, plus the ability to search keywords in the full-text of the article, abstract (a short summary of the article), title of the article, or by author; 2) the ability to limit searches to articles, reviews, editorials, or pamphlets; 3) the ability to limit searches to articles published within a certain date range:
5. Scroll down the page to see more options for specifying a particular search. Use the "Title" box to search within a specific journal or place checks inside the boxes next to the different subject categories:
6. The following screen shot demonstrates an example search. This search will instruct JSTOR to search for all articles with the exact keyword phrase "Abraham Lincoln" in the article title and the exact keyword phrase "civil war" anywhere in the full text of the article:
7. The search results appear in the following screen shot. Take note of: 1) the number of results for the search (in this case 34); 2) the ability to sort by Relevance, Oldest to Newest, Newest to Oldest, plus being able to change the number of results per page; 3) below the citation for each article in the list of results you will see links for "Item Information", Page of First Match" and "PDF". See points 8, 9, & 10 for discussion on these links:
8. Clicking the link for "Item Information" below...
...will produce the following screen. This screen displays all citation information for the article. Were there an abstract for the following article, it would appear on this screen as well. Note the buttons on the right for "View Item" and "PDF" to see the article in two different formats:
9. Clicking the link for "Item Information" below...
...will produce the following screen. Note that JSTOR will indicate how many times your keyword appears throughout the article and allows you to see each page (click the link for "View list of pages with search term[s]) on which it appears:
10. Clicking the link for "PDF" below...
...will produce the following screen. This is a PDF file of a scan of the original article. Use the icons in the top left corner to save or print the article. Use the arrows to the right to jump to a certain page of the article:
This is only a brief overview on how to use JSTOR. For more information on how to search through the JSTOR database, please see their extensive help section.
When doing your homework and research, always feel free to stop by the Library Reference desk to seek assistance from a librarian, call us at (904)-819-6331, or e-mail us at library@flagler.edu for help.