Answered By: Darcy Gervasio
Last Updated: Jun 23, 2025     Views: 1964

Why You Should Use The Email Tool

When you do research, you can use the email tool in a library database to send yourself articles. Using a database's built-in email feature helps ensure that you...

  1. Save the full text (PDF)
  2. Receive a complete citation for the article 
  3. Have a permalink (stable URL) that will take you back to the article record in the future
     

In most databases, the URL at the top of the browser is not a stable, permanent link.

This unstable URL will stop working after a few hours and will not work from off-campus.

Screenshot of Proquest Research Library URL bar showing a temporary URL starting with proquest.com. Never copy the URL from the browser bar when in a library database! Always look for the permalink instead.

 

Using a database's email tool gives you the "good" permalink. 

Email tools also provide a full citation. Saving the full citation-- including the journal title, year, volume, and issue number-- helps you retrace your steps and find the article again using the Library's Citation Lookup tool.

For example, in ProQuest databases, click "All Options" to find the "Email" tool. You can also copy the permalink (aka the "stable" URL) from here. A permanent link will always begin with "https://ezproxy.purchase.edu"

In ProQuest Research Library, copy the permalink by clicking All Options, then Choosing Email, or copy+paste the "good" URL which starts with https://ezproxy.purchase.edu

Pro Tip: If you're doing a lot of research, use a Citation Manager such as Zotero to save and organize of all your citations. Citation managers can also create bibliographies for you! See the Zotero Guide for more info.

What Email Tools Look Like

Here's what some of the email tools in our most common databases look like. Look for envelope icons or "share" options. In most databases, you can enter your email address as both the sender and recipient. 

Discovery Search

 

Discovery Search's email icon is a white and grey envelope. It appears next to print, citation, and permalink buttons below the item title

ProQuest

 

 

 

In ProQuest, click "All options" button to reveal the Email tool.

In Proquest, click the "All Options" button, a teal circle with three white dots, to reveal Email and other tools

ProQuest email icon is found under "All Options." It is a white envelope inside a teal circle with the word Email below

 

Gale

Gale's email icon appears above the full text of the article and resembles a white envelope inside a grey circle

 

Ebsco

 

In Ebsco, click the "Share" arrow to reveal the Email form.

Ebsco's email option is found under the "Share" icon which is a grey arrow

After clicking on the Share arrow, select the Email option which has a grey envelope. A fillable email form appears

ScienceDirect

 

In ScienceDirect, click "Share" to reveal the Email tool

sciencedirect's email option is found under Share. It is a blue envelope with the word Email and an arrow

 

What If You Can't Find The Email Tool?

Sometimes the email option is tricky to find. In databases without an obvious "email" icon, you can:

  • Look for "share" or "all options" instead. Often, the email button is hidden under "Share."
     
  • Look for options to "email to a friend" or "share with a colleague."  Enter your own email address as the "friend."
     
  • Download the PDF and attach it to an email that you send to yourself in Outlook, Gmail, or another email client. When sending articles this way...
    • Make sure you save the citation information using the "Cite" or "Citation" feature of the database.
    • Copy the permalink, "stable link," or DOI into your email as well.
    • JSTOR no longer has an email button; use the download-and-attach method instead.
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