As part of your research, your teacher may sometimes require you to use articles or other resources from the library’s research databases. But what is a research database and why are they useful?
Library Research Databases
A research database is an organized, searchable collection of information that allows you to quickly search many resources simultaneously. Databases can be general, such as ProQuest, or Britannica or subject-specific, such as Science, (which has resources related only to science).
So what makes a research database different than other search engines, like Google? There are a few important distinctions to keep in mind when you’re using a research database instead of Google.
How you search library databases is different from Google. Research databases use more precise, keyword searching, and most don’t automatically search the full text of a resource. Keywords are words or phrases that describe the topic you’re researching, and you’ll want to use them when searching databases to locate the most relevant resources on your topic.
Google and Google Scholar
Google and Google Scholar are both search engines that search all of the indexed web. The difference between them is Google Scholar searches limits results to scholarly articles only.
Both Google and research databases can be useful depending on your information need, but results from both need to be evaluated for accuracy and credibility. If you’re searching for scholarly research a library research database would be a better place to search than Google. However, if you’re looking for general information Google is the better search option.
If you still have questions about research databases and how to use them, contact the Library for help.
You can use symbols or terms in your search to make your search results more precise. Here's an overview of some of the most useful search tricks.
Databases and Google
The default is to look for all the words in your search. Using OR (must be capitalized) will allow you to look for any one or more of the words.
You can also combine some of these search tricks, such as adding -site:nytimes.com to remove results from the New York Times website. Click here to find more search tips.
You can use Google Advanced Search Page if you forget the search operators above.
Google Scholar provides a simple way to search for scholarly literature. Some articles you find will give you access to the full-text. Other articles, you'll have to check in the library databases or ask the librarians. Some articles will not be available as we will have to pay for them.