What Is ArticleFirst?

• ArticleFirst is an index produced by OCLC that allows you to search for journal articles by subject, title, and/or author.
• The index includes articles from the table of contents pages of more than 12,000 journals from 1990 to the present and it is updated daily.
• The index includes scholarly journals and popular works (such as magazines and newspapers), making ArticleFirst a valuable research tool for accessing articles for reference and for leisure purposes alike. Publications indexed in the database include American Journal of Health Studies, Economic Review, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic, People, Performing Arts Journal, Rolling Stone, and TV Guide.

When Should I Use ArticleFirst?

• The major strength of ArticleFirst is its broad scope of topics. You could use it to research a wide range of subjects from science and technology to anthropology, the arts and popular culture.
• ArticleFirst is also useful because it allows you to search so many journals at once. You could use this database at the beginning of your research process to get an idea of what has been published about your topic or you could use it to search for your topic in specific sources as your research becomes more focused.
• Because Articlefirst is updated daily, it can be a very useful tool for finding current information about a topic.

When Should I Consider Using An Index Other Than ArticleFirst?

• One of the weaknesses of ArticleFirst may be that it only provides links to very few full text articles. You can use ArticleFirst to identify bibliographic citations for articles and then find out where/how to access the article by checking to see which nearby libraries subscribe to the specified publication. If you do not have time to visit a library, you may choose to search for articles using another index.
• If you are looking for historical information or find articles in journals prior to 1990, ArticleFirst may not be the most useful index for you. Most articles from ArticleFirst are from 1990 to the present.

Searching For Articles Using ArticleFirst Advanced Search 

Of the three search options offered by ArticleFirst—basic, advanced, and expert—Advanced Search is the default setting.

Advanced Search

Example : You would like to find articles that have been written about Easter Island and the statues there.

1) Type your query (“ Easter Island”) into the Search for: text box

2) When you are using multiple search terms, it can be useful to choose a Boolean operator (and, not, or) to help focus the search (in this case you want articles specifically about Easter Islandand the statues there)

3) The default search is Keyword, but you can elect to search Author, Title, Source, Publisher, or a number of other options

4) Click the Search button to begin your search

Interpreting Your Results

After you have clicked the Search button, you will see a list of citations for the journals and magazines that your topic appears in. The list provides a summary of the articles that matched your search terms.

1) If you click on a blue title, you will see the article’s entire citation along with any abstract or other information that may be available.

2) If you see the iconthis indicates that your library owns the source. You could then look up the title of the journal in the catalog and retrieve it from the library. If your library does not own the source, you may have to request it through an interlibrary loan.

Printing, E-mailing, And Saving Results

ArticleFirst allows you to print, e-mail, or save individual citations or an entire page of search results in a “printer-friendly” format.

1) To print, click the Print button on the ArticleFirst screen, then select “Print” from your browser’s toolbar.

2) To e-mail, click the E-mail button at the top of the ArticleFirst screen, then enter your e-mail address and select “Send.”

3) To save to a disk, click “File” in from your internet browser, click “Save As” and select the appropriate drive, type in a file name, and save as a text (.txt) file.

Additional ArticleFirst Tips and Features

• Advanced search includes a section of Limit to: options that you can select to limit the results of your search by year, OCLC library code, and library availability.
• If you will be conducting more than one search, use the Clear key to erase prior searches before conducting a new search.
• The ArticleFirst database interface is also available in Spanish, French, Korean, and Chinese.
• To avoid losing your search results, it is best to use the navigational buttons on the ArticleFirst page, rather than your browser’s “Back” button.
• You can use the asterisk (*) to search for multiple spelling variations of a search term.
• You can use the plus (+) sign to search for search terms and their plural versions.

Where Can I Get More Help If I Need It? 

• Try referring to the ArticleFirst onscreen help and tutorials by clicking the Help button at the top of the ArticleFirst screen.
• You can visit OCLC’s Web site to search for FirstSearch support: http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/support/
• You can always feel free to consult a reference librarian.

*ArticleFirst screen shots have been used with OCLC’s permission. ArticleFirst and FirstSearch are registered trademarks of OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc.