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WGSS 4100/6600

Queer Theory. Course guide created for Mx. Griggs-Taylor's course, WGSS 4110, Spring 2025.

Finding Materials by Citation

When you already know the citation of a journal article, you can easily see if VSU owns that article or not. 

 

We'll use this citation as an example

Stein, Arlene. 2010. “Sex, truths, and audiotape: Anonymity and the ethics of exposure in public ethnography.” Journal of Contemporary Ethonography 39(5): 554-68.

 

Understanding Citations

We first want to make sure we understand the citation. While there are many different citation styles, you will usually be able to find the following in all citations for journal articles:

 

Author, year, article title, and journal information. 

 

In this example, the article title is "Sex, truths, and audiotape: Anonymity and the ethics of exposure in public ethnography" by the author Arlene, Stein. It was published in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography in 2010. It can be found on pages 554-568 of volume 39, issue 5 of the journal. 

 

Stein, Arlene author, 2010 year, "Sex, truths, and audiotape" article title, journal of Contemporary... Journal info

 

Finding Articles

It is important to make sure you understand the citation information in order to find the article and make sure that it is the correct one. 

We'll start on the Odum Library Homepage. 

1. In the main search box under the Discover tab, type in the title of the article, making sure that you put it in quotation marks. This makes sure the database searches for the title together instead of the words in the title separately. 

Odum Library homepage with example article title in the search bar with quotation marks around it

 

2. Click Find. Browse the results to find your article. 

Galileo search results with Sex, truths, and audiotape and number 1 search result.

 

You can check the detailed record by clicking on the title to see if it is the correct article. 

Detailed record of Sex, truths, and audiotape. Author and source are highlighted in a red box.

 

 

Finding Books/Book Chapters

Citations for book chapters usually contain the following:

Chapter author, chapter title, book editors, book title, and publication location.

 

Here is an example of a book chapter citation in APA style:

 

Hughes, C. C. (2018). Not out in the field: Studying privacy and disclosure as an invisible (trans) man. In D. R. Compton, T. Meadow, & K. Schilit (Eds.), Other, please specify: Queer methods in sociology (pp. 111-125). University of California Press. Author(s). (Year of publication). Title of chapter. In book information including Book Editor(s) (Eds.), Title of book (pp. pages of chapter). Publisher. DOI (if available)

You find book chapters and books the same way. If you are looking for a book chapter, type the chapter title from the citation into the search bar using quotation marks.

 

You may not be able to find a book chapter right away. If this is the case, before placing an ILL request, search to see if we have the book as an eBook. You can type the book title in the search bar using quotations, the same way you would search for the book chapter. If we have the book, search through the book to find the specific chapter!

Found the Title but not the Full Text?

Many of the library databases will provide an option to locate the full text of an article.  If an article is not available full text in that database, there will be a button called Find It @ VSU. Find It @ VSU links to the online full text and ILL service.  

 

Using Find It @ VSU

  • Click on the Find It @ VSU button or the Find it @ VSU dropdown option when in Discover.

​Icon and Find It @ VSU

 

Access options drop down with Find it @ VSU displayed

 

  • A new window will open to the Library catalog. Depending on the article, it may be available online or available through Interlibrary Loan. 

 

Available Online

  • If we have access to the full text online, there will be a link to the database or databases that have access to the journal title. Under "Full text available at", there might be a date or date range of coverage. Click on the appropriate link to access the full text of the article. 

 

Available through Interlibrary Loan

  • If the catalog returns a message of "no full text available",  under Additional services, click on Request through ILL.
  • Log into ILLiad using your BlazeVIEW username and password. 
  • The Get an Article request form will be filled in automatically. 
    • This only works if you have previously completed the ILL registration form.
    • It's a good idea to look over the imported information to check the accuracy.
  • Click Submit Request.

 

 

 

 

Can't Find the Title?

If you find a book or article that you need for your research, but the library does not have it, you can request it using ILL. Books are physical and will be mailed to the library (ebooks cannot be requested). Articles are typically scanned and delivered as online PDFs.

 

How to Request a Book or Article Using ILL

1. Go to the library home page.

2. Click on ILL-Odum Express.

3. Log into ILLiad using your BlazeVIEW username and password. ILLiad is the system we use to process ILL requests.

  • The first time you log into ILLiad you must fill in the registration form. Once this form is filled in you will see the main menu for ILLiad and can request materials. In the future you will go directly to the main menu when you  log in.

4. Click on the appropriate link under Make a Request.

  • For example, click on Get an Article to request an article.

5. Fill in the form and click Submit Request.

 

 

 

Picking Up the Requested Material

  • You will receive an email once the book or article is available.
  • Students can pick up books at the main circulation desk.
  • Faculty can have books delivered to their department on North Campus only. Please email ill@valdosta.edu to request faculty book delivery to North Campus.
  • Articles are usually online. Log into ILLiad and click on PDFs Available for Download. Be sure to save the PDF! PDFs are removed from the server after 30 days.