Check which element has been clicked with jQuery

So you are doing this a bit backwards. Typically you'd do something like this:

​<div class='article'>
  Article 1
</div>
<div class='article'>
  Article 2
</div>
<div class='article'>
  Article 3
</div>​

And then in your jQuery:

$('.article').click(function(){
    article = $(this).text(); //$(this) is what you clicked!
    });​

When I see things like #search-item .search-article, #search-item .search-article, and #search-item .search-article I sense you are overspecifying your CSS which makes writing concise jQuery very difficult. This should be avoided if at all possible.

Use this, I think I can get your idea.

Live demo: http://jsfiddle.net/oscarj24/h722g/1/

$('body').click(function(e) {

    var target = $(e.target), article;

    if (target.is('#news_gallery li .over')) {
       article = $('#news-article .news-article');
    } else if (target.is('#work_gallery li .over')) {
       article = $('#work-article .work-article');
    } else if (target.is('#search-item li')) {
       article = $('#search-item .search-article');
    }

    if (article) {
       // Do Something
    }
});​