Start Here: How do I pick the right materials for my research?

Why? For more current or detailed information, or if you cannot find any books on your topic 
Why not? Not for broad overview of a topic, articles from general (as opposed to scholarly) periodicals won't have bibliographies referring you to other related sources, or acknowledging the sources the author used.

Databases and other periodical indexes help you find articles on a specific topic without having to flip through hundreds or thousands of issues.

• Most of the FIT Library's periodical indexes are available online through the FIT Databases.
• The articles in an online database or index may be from a newspaper, a news wire service, a consumer magazine, a trade publication, or a scholarly journal. There's a good explanatory chart or ask a librarian about the different types of publications and which may be most appropriate for your particular purpose.
• OneSearch, which covers most of our databases, is a good place to start of you want to find lots of articles from a variety of types of publication, or something that seems hard to find
• TIPS:
  • In most databases, missing even one letter can get you incorrect or even no results. Though autocomplete suggestions are sometimes available, you usually won't get a hint -- like Google's "did you mean...? -- to help you see your mistake. 
  • If you get a “0” result for a search, go back one step to check if you’ve made a spelling or typing mistake. Ask for help if you’re still not sure!

Use Journal Search (part of OneSearch) to find:

• online magazines to browse, year by year, issue by issue (but without ads and sometimes other images), article by article OR
• a specific magazine and then search within that magazine for a specifc topic. 

If the article you want is not available full-text online in a database you're using, it's probably because :

• the whole database is an index only    OR
• most articles are available full-text, but the ones from this specific magazine or journal are not    OR
• there's an "embargo" date for certain magazines where the publisher only allows "older" articles (typically 1-3 years and older) to be seen

To try to get an article you found listed in a printed index, or to see if another database, website , or other format has the full text of article when the database you searched did not, try these steps:

• Use the Journal Search (part of OneSearch) to see if the FIT library has either the printed or online version of the magazine you want. Note the dates indicated because we may have the title you want, but not the correct year.
• Try Google Scholar which searches academic-oriented and publishers' sites only and may link to an open access version of the article you want.
  • Through settings>library links, you can indicate which libraries you are affiliated with (e.g. FIT and NYPL); the search results may then include direct links to an article through one of the library databases you can log into.
• Check OneSearch (under the name of the magazine, not the name of the specific article) to see if the library owns the magazine you need.
• If the FIT library doesn't have access to the article either in print or online, you can try to get it through Interlibrary Loan , try a public library, or Ask a librarian (in person) for a pass to visit another college or university library in the NYC area.