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MB 110 Orientation to Microbiology

This guide is for OSU students in MB 110, Orientation to Microbiology.

Search for Articles in Google Scholar

Google Scholar is a great place to scan across a lot of sources at once, but if it doesn't know that you have rights to access online articles and other sources from a library, it might send you to a page like this - which asks you to pay for the article you want:

Buy Access to Article

The journal in this example is in the OSU Libraries' collection, and OSU students, staff and faculty have the right to access it (and articles in lots of other journals) from any computer with an Internet connection.  With a few adjustments to your preferences, you can tell Google Scholar to point you to the resources that the library provides for the OSU community.

Set Up Your Google Scholar Preferences

Step 1:  To make Google Scholar talk to the OSU Libraries collection, go to the Settings link, located on the top left corner of the page:

Step 2:  Click the gear icon. Depending on your display, this icon may be on the upper right or on the bottom of the settings menu.

 

Step 3:  On the left-hand side of the Scholar Settings page, choose Library links.

Step 4:  Next either search for Oregon State University in the search box or simply use the checkbox next to Oregon State University. Make sure you click Save.

Click Find it at OSU to Open Articles

Now, when you do a search, your results list will look like this.  Click on the Find it at OSU link to get to either the full-text of the article or an easy option for requesting the article through interlibrary loan.  Notice that if the article doesn't have a Find it at OSU link, you can click on the More symbol (two arrow-like symbols) to try and Find at OSU.

screenshot of how to locate the find at osu option on Google Scholar

 

Sometimes Google Scholar results do not have the Find it at OSU link. However, if there is a PDF item included in the search result, that will take you directly to a PDF- no OSU access needed.

screenshot of how to access pdfs if there is no Find it at osu link

More Specific Databases for Microbiology

Find the Full Text of an Article in a Subject Database

 Look for the 360 link to full text button to open the full article.

Options for getting to the PDF will open in a new window. Sometimes the link will take you to the journal, not the individual article. Use the citation information for the article to get to the right year, volume and issue of the journal.

If the library doesn't have it, request the article for free from Interlibrary Loan. On average, articles arrive digitally within one business day.