University Library > Guides > How to Use JSTOR

How To Use JSTOR®

To search the complete text of scholarly journals

Table of Contents:

Logging On/Off Searching Search Techniques Basic Search Advanced Search Displaying Search Results Search Results List Article Citations Display Articles Browsing

Displaying Browse Results Table of Contents Article Citation Articles (browsed) Printing Print Articles Print Other Saving Save Articles Save Other Open JSTOR JSTOR Help

JSTOR Arts & Sciences I, II & III Collection® is an indexed archive containing the fulltext of scholarly journals, beginning with the very first issue of each title. There is a gap, called a moving wall, of typically 1 to 5 years between the most recently published journal issue and the content available in JSTOR. For some titles, JSTOR includes the citation information for articles that fall in that gap. For these titles, direct links to the fulltext of articles in other UW-W online resources may be provided. fulltext articles in recent issues of some titles are not available in the JSTOR®  archive. Some of these titles are available through Project Muse, and JSTOR  graciously provides links to the articles.

Citations, abstracts and fulltext of journal contents may be searched with keywords. It is also possible to browse the collection one issue at a time to find a citation or article.  Articles, reviews and other items, in digitally reproduced PDF image files, may be displayed a page at a time and printed with Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

JSTOR is accessible both on and off-campus by UW-Whitewater students, faculty and staff .

Logging On/Off

To log on, begin on any Andersen Library webpage, select Articles from the Find Menu, click on J under Indexes & Databases in Alphabetical Order, and then on the JSTOR collection link.

To exit, click on the EXIT JSTOR link at the top of the screen.

Searching

Search Techniques

Common Techniques

To Retrieve Records With:	Search For:
words with the same root, truncate with *	sail* finds sail, sails, sailing, sailed, etc.
more than one word, adjacent or not, use and	endangered and species
synonyms or other related words, use or	england or britain or "united kingdom"
keywords, in the same field, occurring within 10 words (a typical sentence) or 25 words (paragraph) of each other, use near (n words)	endangered near (10 words) species
a phrase, use quotation marks	"endangered species act"
multiple words, including synonyms or other related terms, use parentheses	crim* and violen* and (juvenile* or teen*)

Basic Search

The Basic Search is the default search option. To get to here from the Advanced Search, click on the Basic Search tab. NOTE: If you have been using the Advanced Search , terms entered and preferences selected there will not necessarily transfer to the Basic Search.

1. Type words or phrases in the textbox using the above techniques, or others found on the JSTOR help screens.
2. Click on the Search button.

Advanced Search

If on the Basic Search form, click on the Advanced Search tab to get here.

1. Texboxes (required) - Type in words or phrases. Click on the down arrow of the succeeding menu and select whether to search the full-text, author, item title, abstract or caption field. Select a Boolean connector, AND, OR or NOT between textboxes.
   NOTE: If combining two or more textboxes, selecting different connectors between them will not yield the desired results. Instead use the Basic Search form.
2. Limit by (optional) - Most users find appropriate search results quicker when they limit the scope of a search using some of these options.
   • Type (optional) - Check the box preceding one or more of the following: Article, Review, Editorial, Other(such as announcements, bibliographies, or other non-research related items). If no option is selected, all types will be searched.
   • Date Range (optional) - Type a range of dates in the textboxes. If a date is entered in the first box, but the second is left blank, the search will be done from the first date to the most current issue. If only one date is desired, type it in both boxes, for example 2008 to 2008.
   • Language - Select an option from the menu.
   • Discipline(s) and/or (Journal) Title(s) - Either select subject groups of journals by selecting the checkbox preceding each one, or click on the arrow button to see the list journal titles in that group and then marking the desired titles individually.

• Click on Search button to run a search.
• To perform another search, either click on or type new terms in the textbox at the top of the display. Terms entered and preferences selected on the Advanced Search form may or may not transfer to the Basic Search form.

Displaying Search Results

Search Results List

The Search Results display identifies the number of items retrieved and lists them in batches of 25.

To view more items at one time, select a different number from the Display menu.

To go to another page of results, click on < Previous, Next > at the bottom of the display, or type a number in the Go to page textbox and click on the red arrow box.

Items appear in order of relevance, meaning that articles the database considers more important based on search term location and frequency are at the top of the list. Articles may be resorted chronologically by selecting Newest to Oldest or Oldest to Newest from the Sort by.

To revise the current query, click on or type it directly in the textbox at the top of the display and click on .

To return to the Search Results when viewing a citation, abstract or fulltext of an article, click on the Back to Search Results link.

Article Citations

An Article Citation display lists an article's citation, including title, author(s), journal title, volume, issue, date and pages of an item, followed by a stable URL for use in bibliographies and reference lists. Only about 10% of JSTOR articles also have an abstract.

To view the citation from:

• The Search Results display, click on the Item Information link at the bottom of the record.
• The fulltext/page of first match of an article, click on the Item Information button.

Display Articles

To display the printable PDF fulltext of an article in JSTOR from the Search Results or Article Information page, click on the PDF link or button.

JSTOR includes citations and links to fulltext articles in some other databases, such as Project Muse. To display one of these articles, click on Link to Article at the bottom of the record, then on . Project Muse will open to the article text. Alternatively, if there is a Find It button, click on that.

To display the first page of an article containing any of the search terms, click on Page of First Match beneath the article's citation on the Search Results display. If the first match occurs in the article citation, click on the First Match is in the Citation link.

When viewing an article, to display a page containing any of the search terms, click View list of pages with search term(s) then on a page number at the top of the display.

To display another page of an article, click on the forward or back arrow on the bar next to the article, or on the Select a Page link.

To display an adjoining article in the same journal issue, click on Previous Item or Next Item.

To see other articles from the same journal, click on Issue Table of Contents, and then on an article's title.

Browsing

1. To browse journals to find articles, hover over the Browse tab on any display in JSTOR, and select an option from the menu.

2. Select By Discipline to browse by subject. Choose an option from the View a Discipline menu, and then click on the red arrow box.

   To browse journals alphabetically instead of by discipline, select By Title from the Browse tab or click on Browse by Title.

   To browse journals by publisher, select By Publisher from the Browse tab or click on Browse by Publisher.

3. Scroll down the list of journals and click on the title of a journal.
4. Under Browse this Title, links to the journal's available contents are listed in chronological order. Click one or more links to narrow down to a specific volume/issue.

   If a title change for the journal has occurred, there will be links to the titles of the preceding or succeeding titles held by JSTOR.

   To view the Table of Contents for a volume or issue, click on the volume or issue number.

   To return to the previous screen, click on List of all Volumes, Volumes/Issues List or use the browser's back button.

Displaying Browse Results

Table of Contents

The Table of Contents display lists the items published in an issue (or volume if issue numbers are not used) of a journal in page number order.

To view the next or previous issue's Table of Contents, click on the volume/issue information following Next Issue or Previous Issue.

To view a list of issues for the current journal, click on Volumes/Issues List.

To return to the Table of Contents when viewing a citation, abstract or fulltext of an article, click on Issue Table of Contents.

Citations

An Article Citation display includes the article's citation (article title, author(s), journal title, volume, issue, date, pages, etc.), followed by a stable (permanent) URL for use in bibliographies and reference lists.  This is followed by an abstract for about 10% of the articles.

To view the citation from the Table of Contents or fulltext of an article, click on Item Information.

Articles (browsed)

To display the PDF fulltext of an article from the Table of Contents or the Article Citation, click on the PDF link.

To display the fulltext of an article in another database, such as Project Muse, click on Link to Article at the bottom of the record, then on . Project Muse opens the article text.

To display another page of an article, click on the right or left arrow in the bars next to the article or on Select Another Page.

To display an adjoining article in the same journal issue, click on Previous Item or Next Item.

To select another article from the same journal, go to the table of contents by clicking on Issue Table of Contents , then click on an article's title.

Printing

Articles

1. Click on Print on the Search Results or Table of Contents display
2. Click on Proceed with Printing. The PDF will open in a new window.
3. After it has appeared, click the Adobe Acrobat print icon , and then on .

Other

JSTOR makes no special provisions for printing search results, volumes or issues list, displayed citation/abstract or table of contents. Therefore, use the browser's print options:

1. Click anywhere within the desired text.
2. Click on the browser's Print button or click on File, then Print...
3. Click on the Print (I.E.) or OK (Netscape) button.

Saving

Save Articles

Click on Download on the Search Results or Table of Contents display. Then:

Windows Users:

1. Right-click on the Economy or High Quality link.
2. Click on Save Link As... (Netscape) or Save Target As... (I.E.) in the pop-up menu.
3. Save the article on a floppy disk by adding A: in front of the file name. For example, a:myfile.pdf
4. Click on .

Mac Users:

1. Click and hold the mouse button on the Economy or High Quality link.
2. Choose Save Link As... (Netscape) or Download Link to Disk (I.E.) in the pop-up menu.
3. Choose to save the file as Source, not Text.
4. Save the article to a floppy disk by adding A: in front of the file name. For example, a:myfile.pdf
5. Click on .

Save Other

JSTOR makes no special provisions for saving a search results, volumes or issues list, displayed citation/abstract or table of contents. Therefore, use the browser's save options:

1. Click anywhere within the desired text.
2. Click on File, then Save As...
3. Save the information to a floppy disk by adding A: in front of the file name. For example, a:myfile.htm
4. Click on .

Open JSTOR

Click to Open JSTOR Arts & Sciences I, II & III Collection

JSTOR Help

Click on the Help link at the top of the display for context-sensitive assistance throughout JSTOR.

For additional assistance, contact a reference librarian at (262) 472-1032, by email or chat or in person at the Library's Reference Desk.

Last Revised: MS - 11/12/2009