JSTOR

An Overview

From your queer theory to your sociology and back again, JSTOR has it all. JSTOR, short for Journal Storage, owns acess to over a thousand journals in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Almost every article available in JSTOR is available in downloadable PDF and many come from a peer-reviewed publication.

N.B.: JSTOR has a moving wall of 3 years for over half of its publication titles, meaning it does not have the last 3 years of articles available. If a journal is published in November 2010, the November 2007 issue comes online; once December 2010 is published, December 2007 is made available, etc. For more information, please visit:
http://about.jstor.org/content-collections/moving-wall

Start at Steely Library's homepage: http://library.nku.edu.
Click the Library Quick Links box.
Choose Articles & Databases. Then click Go.

Using quick links to go to articles and databases

Click the letter J.

Choosing the letter J from the alphabetical list of databases

Select JSTOR.

Selecting JSTOR

**If you are working from off-campus, you will be asked to enter your NKU username and password.

Once you enter the database you will encounter this main page with several key features:

  • Basic Search
  • Advanced Search
  • Browse by Discipline

JSTOR key features

Because JSTOR searches so many journals, you will want to click the 'Advanced Search' option. You can click the link under the main search bar or by clicking Search at the top.

Advanced Search allows you to:

  • Narrow by date.
  • Narrow by language.
    • Necessary because JSTOR has access to many international journals.
  • Narrow by item type.
    • Because it owns full journals, JSTOR has access to many book reviews.
    • If you are looking for just an article, be sure to check the Article box.
  • Narrow by date range.
  • Search for your term in the whole article, title or in the abstract, or by author.

JSTOR advanced search

Choose as many of the options as possible in order to find results more efficiently.

JSTOR also allows you to narrow by discipline:

Narrowing by discipline in JSTOR

You can click as many boxes for discipline as necessary.

For example, if finding articles on Alexander Hamilton: enter the term "Alexander Hamilton" (in quotes to keep the words together); select article; enter dates (1995-2010); and choose English as a language.

Finding articles in JSTOR

Then scroll down and select the history and political science disciplines, if you only want to review results in those fields.

Reviewing results in JSTOR

Then hit 'Search' at the bottom of the page:

Searching in JSTOR

Here is what a typical results page looks like:

Typical results in JSTOR

JSTOR lists how many articles match your search terms, how you can access it, and how you can modify the search.

Let's say we like the second article. Click the title of the article.

An article in JSTOR

To download or print the article, click the View PDF link. You can also email yourself the citation; however, you cannot email yourself the article.

You can read the entirety of the article on the web page by clicking the gray bars surrounding the print.

Most articles are available immediately in PDF format, but some are not.

Screen shot of JSTOR indicating that the article is available elsewhere

The orange arrow box next to the title indicates that the material is available somewhere else.

If you want that article, click the title of the article.

JSTOR abstract

The abstract is available to read.

There will be a small green icon above the abstract for our LinkSource program. Hit that icon.

LinkSource results in JSTOR

Another window will appear which lists if the article is carried in another database.

Click the provided database link to be taken to another database where the article is stored.

If you are having trouble navigating JSTOR, there are several options for help: one on the database page and one on the library's home page.

Back on the J database page. . .

Selecting JSTOR

Use the tutorial!Red arrow pointing

On library home page, at http://library.nku.edu, located at the bottom left:

Ask Steely Library button

Click the ASK Steely Library button to go to this page. . .

Ask Steely Library web page

While the library is open you can ask for help in so many ways!

Choose a method of help: from chat, to text, to working in the library with a staff member!