University Library > Guides > Direct Links to Electronic Articles

Direct Links to Electronic Journal Articles, etc.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Faculty and staff may provide students with permanent direct links to articles in electronic journals, magazines and newspapers to which the University Library subscribes. These links may be made from course management software such as Desire2Learn®, as well as from individual faculty and staff home pages and ROAD. For the Library's online subscription resources that provide permanent links, there is no limit to the number of times or length of time one can link to an article, since the Library has already paid for the access. The Library provides access to about 13,000 electronic journals, many through online database systems such as EBSCOhost® and ProQuest®.

Faculty and staff may also provide durable links to materials they have placed on electronic reserve (eReserve) in the Library Catalog, as well as Catalog searches. Some examples of eReserve materials include articles from print journals, magazines and newspapers, book chapters, poems, short stories, quizzes, homework answers, and other printed material. When using durable links, there is no limit to the number of times one can link to a work. However, in order to comply with copyright restrictions the length of time is restricted to one semester. If a link is needed to an eReserve item for the subsequent semester, please contact the Circulation Department. To read about durable links to eReserves and the Catalog, please refer to the Direct Links to eReserves & the Catalog. webpage.

The instructions given below are very detailed, so if you are familiar with using durable links, you may wish to jump directly to the Database Specific Tips section.

How It's Done (in one step)

The Library employs EZproxy® software, which allows registered UW-W students, faculty and staff to access Library resources from off-campus, but restricts access by others, thereby helping the University Library comply with copyright restrictions and licensing agreements. When the EZproxy prefix https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url= is added to a URL faculty, staff and students can get to it from virtually anywhere. Without the coding, the link will only work on campus.

Example

  1. URL: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2043966&db=afh
  2. ADD: https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=
  3. USE: https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2043966&db=afh

Known Problems

Proxy Server

Occasionally, people have difficulty successfully logging in to the proxy server. This is usually due to irregularities with their last name, such as a name change, hyphenation, or length, or having a firewall on their computer. If someone cannot log in using either method outlined above, please have them contact a Reference Librarian for assistance, either in person at the Reference Desk in the Library, by telephone at (262) 472-1032, or by email via AskaLibrarian/AskAway webpage. More information about off-campus access may be found on the Troubleshooting Guide.

Long URLs

Desire2Learn® cannot handle long URLs and sometimes breaks them up, causing the links to be unusable. The way to solve this problem is to make the URL shorter.

One website that does this is http://tinyurl.com . How it Works: Enter a URL with the proxy server coding attached in the text field provided and click on the Make TinyURL! button. The free service then creates a very small URL that will not break into smaller sections and never expires.
For example: The 252 character https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2003&res_id=xri:pqd&
rft_val_fmt=ori:fmt:kev:mtx:journal&genre=article&rft_id=
xri:pqd:did=000000388809101&svc_dat=xri:pqil:fmt=text&req_dat=xri:pqil:pq_clntid=3852
transforms into the 23 character http://tinyurl.com/levf .

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Database Specific Tips

Since the University Library has paid for these databases, there are no copyright restrictions on the number of times the same article can be viewed. These are different rules from Interlibrary Loan.

EBSCOhost databases: Persistent Links

Sometimes following the link to an Ebsco® database from the Journal Holdings List list results in a listing of articles from the desired periodical; other times it results in a list of databases.

  1. Either:
    • From a list of articles in the desired journal: Find a specific article in the publication by clicking on Refine Search, then add to the search in the Find box some distinct words or phrases chosen from the article's title. Do not delete what appears in the box.
    • From a list of databases: Select the database named in the Journal Holdings List. Type the journal/magazine title in the Magazine box and enter additional words from the topic or title of the desired article in the Find box.
  2. Click on the article's title to view the full item record.
  3. From the Persistent link to this record field, copy the URL and paste it into your document.
  4. From the Title and Source fields, copy the the citation information into your document.
  5. Add EZproxy® coding. Format with HTML coding if needed.

EMERALD® (Electronic Management Research Library Database) (MCB)

Follow a link to one of journals in this collection from the Journal Holding: Electronic & Print list. 

  1. Type the article's title, omitting any initial article, into the text box, click in the checkbox preceding Article Title and click on Search Now.
  2. Click on the article's title. Copy citation information into Desire2Learn® or other medium.
  3. Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click in the radio dial preceding PDF (Full Document), and click on Request Document.
  4. Copy the URL for this page (on the "Location" line of the Web browser) into your document.
  5. Add EZProxy® coding. Format with HTML coding if needed.
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JSTOR Collection Arts & Sciences I & II Collections®: Permanent URL

Follow a link to one of journals in this collection from the Journal Holdings List list, and then find the article's full citation.  You must know the citation information for your article to use JSTOR®'s make a link feature.

  1. Go to http://makealink.jstor.org/.
  2. Under How to Link with JSTOR, in the JSTOR Participating Institutions section, click on create an online bibliography or class syllabus.
  3. Register if desired (I did and have not been contacted by them yet).
  4. Click on link to Citation Linking Tool.
  5. Enter publication title, volume and issue numbers, starting page number and article title, including any initial article. Click on the Retrieve Citation and URL button.
  6. Copy the Permanent URL and citation information into your document.
  7. Add EZProxy® coding. Format with HTML coding if needed.

LexisNexis®

Unfortunately, LexisNexis does not support durable URLs at this time.

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ProQuest® Databases

Following the link to a ProQuest database from the Journal Holdings List list, results in a list of ProQuest databases.

  1. Click on the database named in the Journal Holdings List.
  2. Click on the "Continue" button. Type the article title, less any initial articles, keywords from the article's title or author, in the text box. Click on the Search button.
  3. Click on the title of the desired article in the Results list.
  4. In the Document View of the item record, locate the Document URL field, and copy the provided URL and paste it into your document.
  5. Add EZProxy® coding and additional citation information. You may wish to add a note instructing students to view the document in Page Image format (if available). 
  6. Make URL smaller if needed (see Known Problems above).

Project MUSE®, ACM®, IOP®, Annual Reviews® and other databases:

No special steps to take.

Follow a link to one of these companies' databases from the Journal Holdings List list.

  1. Do a search for the title of the article in the database, omitting any initial article.
  2. Click on the link to the full text of the article. 
  3. Copy the URL for this page (on the "Location" line of the Web browser) into your document, along with citation information.  If the PDF file has a distinct URL, you can use it instead of the link to the HTML full text. Include a note for clicking on a link to the PDF file (if available).
  4. Add EZProxy® coding. Format with HTML coding if needed.

WilsonWeb® databases:

Follow a link to one of this company's databases from the Journal Holdings List list.

  1. Click on the Revise Search button on the bottom of the display.
  2. On the first line, type the periodical title in the textbox and select Journal Name from the menu.
  3. On the second line, type the article title in the textbox and select Title from the menu.
  4. Click on the Start button to run the search.
  5. Click on the title link for your article to bring up the article citation. 
  6. In the Persistent URL field, click on either the Click to copy the PDF full text article link or the Click to copy the HTML full text article link
  7. In the popup window click on the OK button.
  8. Paste the resulting URL and citation information into your document.
  9. Add EZProxy® coding. Format with HTML coding if needed.
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Detailed Steps for Articles

Step 1-Determine University Library Holdings

Identify whether the Library has an Internet subscription to the periodical that contains the desired article, a database that provides full text of the article, or a print subscription to the periodical containing the article.

The quickest way to do this is with the Citation Linker. Enter as much of the citation as is known into the form and click on the Find It button. You may read more about using this tool in the How to Use SFX: Find It & Citation Linker guide.

The Journal Holdings List may also be used. It is a customized list of all the periodicals available at UW-Whitewater in full-text (HTML), full page image (PDF), print and other formats. This list is arranged alphabetically by publication title and includes the dates ranges covered in various locations (if available). Links are provided to sources of online content. In some cases, the links lead directly to the desired online journal, where you may browse for the article. In other cases, the links lead to a database or a list of databases (you must select the one which contains the periodical), where you may search or browse for the article. Details about using specific databases are listed in the Proprietary Database Tips section below.

Example

  1. From the Library home page click on the link to the Journal Holdings List under Find Articles, Statistics
  2. Type a periodical title, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education in this example, in the Title text box and click on . Hints:
    • If there is an ampersand (&) in the title, try replacing it with the word "and"
    • If there is a colon (:) in the publication title, try typing only the words before it
    • Omit any initial articles, such as the, an, le, etc.
    • In the Results list holdings are noted thus:
      • If the Library does not subscribe to the periodical, as message such as "NO Assessment & evaluation in higher education Titles" appears. At this point, you may choose to order the article via Interlibrary Loan and request that it be put on print or electronic Course Reserves when it arrives, using the Course Reserve Request Form. Need instructions for linking to eReserves?
      • If the library does subscribe to the periodical, holdings statements will appear. Light colored boxes indicate Internet holdings and dark colored boxes indicate print and microform holdings. Check the date of the article to see if it is available at any of the listed locations.

Journal Holdings statement
In this example, there is one online holding, and the citation date falls within the listed date range.

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Step 2-Locate Article

If the University Library subscribes to the periodical you seek in:

  1. Print or microform formats:
    You may photocopy the article and place it on print or electronic Course Reserves using the Course Reserve Request Form.
    Need instructions for linking to eReserves?
  2. Electronic formats:
    Click on the provided link. Because what happens at this point varies, examples for several of the major databases are listed under Proprietary Database Tips below. Search or browse for the desired article in the database that has opened. Often, the quickest search is by title or phrase (using words from the title). Some databases, such as in this example, bring up a list of volumes or issues, which may be browsed, by date.

Example

Clicking on the link in this example opens the Academic Search Elite database from EBSCOhost® to the main Publications page for the journal Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education:

Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education (0260-2938) Academic Search Elite  4/1/1991-3 months ago
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Step 3-Copy URL

Eventually, you will come to screen that offers a durable link for the article. Copy and paste this information into D2L or web page, including HTML coding if it is offered. In D2L, you will need to use a href coding in the HTML view to make the URL into a working link.

Example

This information is presented in the Academic Search Elite database from EBSCOhost®:

Persistent link to this record: http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2043966&db=afh

Step 4-Include Citation

The library recommends including the full article citation to the link for identification of the work. One reason students find the citation valuable is that they tend to cite course readings in their papers. Another is that if the link fails, they will be able to look up the article using the Citation Linker or the Journal Holdings List.

Example

This information was presented in the Academic Search Elite database from EBSCOhost®:

The Quest for the Holy Grail or Hunting the Snark? Bridging the quality-resources divide on effectiveness and efficiency. By: Livingstone, George, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Jun99, Vol. 24, Issue 2, p. 249

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Step 5-Add EZProxy Coding

To enable off-campus access for UW-W students, faculty and staff, the library's EZProxy® server address < https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url= > must be added in front of the URL for each article from one of our proprietary databases or eReserves item. This will result in a proxy login prompt for off-campus users, requesting their login information. Depending on where this link is placed, HTML coding may also need to be added.

Example

Add EZProxy® coding:

Change:  http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2043966&db=afh

To:  https://libproxy.uww.edu:9443/login?url=http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an=2043966&db=afh

Step 6-Add Note

Because few databases allow links directly to the scanned text of an article (PDF), you will probably need to link to the HTML version of the text or citation. If this happens, you may wish to add a note to your link suggesting that students read the PDF version of the article, and explain how to open the PDF.

Example

After clicking on the link below, please click on the PDF Full Text link to read this article.

Step 7-Test Link

If possible, test your link from off-campus before the semester begins.

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For 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 - 10/19/2007