UNR alumni unfortunately lose off campus access to library databases once they graduate. However, more and more research is being made open and freely available to everyone. Below you'll find tips and tricks for finding free (and legal!) versions of scholarly articles, such as browser extensions and information on how to use Google Scholar to maximum effect. It is important to note, however, that these methods will often lead you to a version of an article that may not be the final published version of it available on the publisher's site. These versions include the article manuscript that has not been peer reviewed and the article manuscript that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but has not been formatted for final publication.
This free extension lives in your browser's toolbar, and you can click it anytime you want to see if there is a free, legal, full text version of the article available online. A new page will open that is either the open version of the article, if one is found, or a message saying OAB was unable to find an open version. In the latter situation, OAB will give you the option of emailing the author asking them to make their article freely available if possible. OAB is available for Chrome or Firefox.
Another free browser extension that is compatible with both Chrome and Firefox is Unpaywall. After installing it, a short tab will automatically appear in the middle-right of your screen anytime you're on a webpage for a scholarly article. When it has found an open version, the Unpaywall icon - a padlock - will turn bright green. But when it can't find a free, legal, full text version of an article, it will turn a light grey.
Google Scholar works to find all versions of an article, including free ones. The first one listed will often be from the publisher's website. However, if you click on "All XX versions" at the bottom of the record, this will show all versions that Google found, including open and free ones. Unfortunately, it does not specify which ones are open; you just have to click on versions until you find one freely available. However, if you see "[PDF]" next to any of them (including on the main page), that is usually a freely available version.
Although still in beta, this service works to find all free versions of scholarly articles and as of Summer 2021, included more than 25 million articles. Just search for your topic or a specific article title. It will return any articles it found matching your search that also have free, open versions available. It provides links to all the open versions it finds.
