Indexes can be printed in book form, or they can be offered electronically, through the Silverman Library's home page. Further, indexes can offer a wide range of information, from providing a location for a specific article to providing an exact copy of the article itself. Important terms and phrases It's also important to know certain terms and phrases used in indexes before you start to actually use them. A citation doesn't contain the article, but it will tell you where to find it. Keep in mind that scholarly journals may give volume numbers in addition to dates.
Some indexes offer abstracts in addition to the citation.
You still have to go elsewhere to find the article, but but at least you can get an idea of whether or not the article is worth finding. The actual article. However, keep in mind that many of the indexes offering full-text provide all the words in an article and nothing more. That means that if there are pictures or graphs in the original, they won't be on the printout you will get from the computer. For most students researching general topics, this isn't very important.