Today's #ResearchTip is about getting hold of a paper.
Here's a stepwise way to do that.

You've found a paper that looks ideal for your research? Great!

It might be the paper is available from your library or via your uni account, job done!

But what do you do if you can't immediately find a paper?

1. Check it on search engines like https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov  or https://scholar.google.com  as often pdfs of papers are linked there.

2. Don't assume a paper isn't accessible to you just by a cursory check. Many papers can be available via registration, particularly if you're in a LMIC, so note if there are any options to give you access.

3. If you can't get a paper that way, don't worry. See if the authors have a profile on places like https://www.academia.edu  or https://www.researchgate.net  or https://www.linkedin.com  where again copies of papers may be available

4. Quick note, if you're using academic social networking sites like those above, double check the paper isn't available before messaging authors via sites to ask for copies of their papers. I get loads of requests for papers people could find much quicker than messaging me

5. Also, while we're on the subject of messaging via academic networking sites (or personal emails) that books are something to be ordered from libraries, borrowed from friends, or purchased. Don't demand free copies of books from authors (or get rude if they refuse)

6. Where was I? Oh yes, if you still haven't found the paper (and have *really tried to find it*) note the corresponding author and email them. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY FINE TO DO! They can send you a copy and it'll probably make their day.

7. If the corresponding author doesn't reply, check out the other authors using the steps above and again if you can't find their papers archived anywhere, message them. You can also message media offices of author's universities who might help get them to get you a copy.

8. Remember there are skills to email an academic, which I've outlined here, this might also help with other aspects of your work as well as getting hold of papers https://theresearchcompanion.com/researchemail/ 

9. If all this fails, there are some other ways you can get hold of papers if you don't have access, covered here https://theresearchcompanion.com/how-to-get-hold-of-papers-when-you-dont-have-access/

10. And keep going! Searching for papers IS time consuming (nobody tells us this when we do research). Everyone else finds it time consuming too. Librarians are brilliant sources of help.