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Oklahoma City Community College Keith Leftwich Memorial Library

Using JSTOR

Explains how to sign up and use the free version of JSTOR.

Using JSTOR

JSTOR is a scholarly database, comprised of peer-reviewed journals, books, and primary sources.  

OCCC does not have a subscription to JSTOR.  However, individual users may create accounts with JSTOR to access citations and indexing, along with limited full-text materials.

Register

To create a personal JSTOR account, visit JSTOR.org and select the Register link in the top right corner.  Provide the requested information.  You do NOT have to use your student email account.  It is recommended that you use an email account you will have continuous access to.

Searching

While JSTOR offers access to articles like other Library article databases, due to its size, users should adjust their search methods to efficiently find appropriate results.

  • Advanced Search is preferred.
  • Use select keywords.
  • Narrow your results by Item Type.  If you are searching for journal articles, check the Articles box.
  • Limit your search results to articles related to a specific discipline.  For instance, if you are searching for articles on impeachment proceedings against U.S. presidents, restricting your results to journals in the History and Political Science categories will make your results more relevant.  
  • Accept the default access type of "Content I can access" to restrict results to items you may read immediately on JSTOR.  You may change this to "All content" but access will not be available to all materials (but may be requested via Interlibrary Loan.)

Viewing your search Results

Because you are using a free account, access to the resources in JSTOR is limited.

If you choose the access type "Content I can access" you will be able to download a copy of the article.  This will not count against your number of monthly free article views.

If you choose "All Content" some of the content may only be readable in your browser (and count against your monthly article limit) and other content may only offer a preview.  For articles only offering a preview, you may request a copy of the article via interlibrary loan.

Other JSTOR features

Click on the arrow to the right of your name when you are logged in to see the following features:

  • Workspace: this is a list of the articles you have saved.
  • Free Article Views: these are the articles you are currently able to view.  This is limited to six articles in a 30 day period (increased to 100 during COVID).  Citations for your previously viewed articles are also listed.
  • JPASS Downloads: JPASS is a paid subscription option for individual users.