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PSCB90 Physical Sciences Research Experience

Welcome to the research guide for PSCB90. This guide will help you become familiar with relevant research tips & resources for your project.

Scholarly articles - the basics

Scholarly journals are where academics present their research and where debate on discipline-specific issues occurs.  As a student, you are now a member of the academic community and expected to engage with this literature.

Remember journal articles are extremely specific. If you don't know much about a subject area it might be best to start with your course textbook and other books. These will give you a broad overview of your topic and help you come up with keywords and ideas to more quickly find useful articles.  

As well, if you're studying an extremely recent event, you may not be able to find anything directly related in the scholarly literature because it takes some time for scholars to write about it. In this case, try researching related ideas instead. 

Why use research databases?

  • They are often specialized by subject area (e.g. Biochemistry)
  • They contain information not available through public resources like Google
  • They are designed with scholars and researchers in mind - that's you!

Getting Fulltext

When searching for articles in research databases, look for the getit! button* to link to the article's FREE full text online. 

If we don't have an electronic copy of the article, it will also let you look for print versions of the article, or request it via Interlibrary Loan.  

If there is no "Get it!" link, or you experience problems, simply search for the article or journal title in LibrarySearch.  When full text is not readily available online, make sure you use the title of the journal (not the article title or author).

*Different databases have different full-text buttons so you might want to  also look for buttons labeled full text or PDF.

Is there an easy way for me to authenticate as a U of T user while I'm researching off-campus?

Yes! We can suggest several strategies.

  1. Start at the library webpage: By signing in with your UTORid and password when you are using LibrarySearch, you are authenticated as a U of T user for the rest of your browser session.  This allows you access to U of T licensed e-content, such as articles, databases, or e-books.
  2. Change your Google Scholar settings: Make sure Google Scholar knows you're a U of T user. Once you change your settings, you'll see "Get it! UTL" links next to articles in your search results.
  3. Get LibKeyNomad: If you're using Chrome or Edge, install an extension called LibKey Nomad. It will link you to the PDF of articles owned by U of T or open access.
  4. Paste the proxy: If you're on a journal website, try pasting http://myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/login?url= in front of the URL you're currently on.  You will be asked to log in with your UTORid. Note: This only works if the library actually subscribes to the journal.