Types of Databases
- Article databases: Use when you want to find popular or scholarly articles.
- eBook databases: Use when you want to find a lot of information about a broad topic.
- Newspaper databases: Use historical newspaper articles as primary sources. Useful for researching a timeline of events.
Search Strategies
These search strategies can help you in any database you use. Using the right keywords can affect how relevant your results are.
- Search with specific keywords (not questions or long phrases).
- Search 2-3 keywords at a time. Each keyword you add will reduce your results.
- Use quotation marks around words you want to search as a complete phrase ("social conflict theory").
- Limiters: always use the Full Text limiter. Use the Peer Reviewed limiter if that is the kind of information you need.
Strive for a list of results that is manageable so you can look through them all. If you have an overwhelming number of results, try revising your search by changing or adding keywords or applying different limiters. Revising your search might also mean trying a different database.
