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Identify Relevant Databases

Databases tend to specialize in particular subject areas and types of sources. To focus your search, try to identify the databases that will be most relevant to your subject. Your decisions about which databases to search will be affected by your library’s holdings. Large research libraries often subscribe to hundreds of databases, while smaller libraries might subscribe to only a handful. Most libraries provide a list of available databases. You can also consult a librarian about which databases might be appropriate for your search.

Databases generally fall into one of the following categories:

News and information databases, which focus on recently published articles in newspapers and popular magazines.
Subject databases, which focus on a broad subject area, such as education, business, or government.
Bibliographies, which focus on publications in a specific discipline or profession, such as literary studies, computational linguistics, or the social sciences.
Citation indexes, which identify sources that have referenced a specific publication, such as an article in a journal or a conference proceeding.
Media databases, which provide access to images, video, and audio sources.

To identify databases that might be relevant to your issue, review your library’s list of databases or consult a reference librarian. Ask yourself the following questions.

Am I focusing on an issue that is likely to have been addressed in recent news coverage? If so, search databases that focus on newspapers and weekly news magazines, such as

LexisNexis Academic
ProQuest Newspapers
Alternative Press Index
Newspaper Source

Am I focusing on a broad area of interest, such as business, education, or government? If so, search databases that focus on more general issues, such as

Academic Search Premier
Article First
Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
WorldCat

Am I focusing on an issue that is related to a particular profession or academic discipline? If so, consult bibliographies that focus on that area. Many library Web sites categorize databases by profession or discipline. For example, if you are interested in an issue related to sociology, you might consult the following databases:

Family and Society Studies Worldwide
Social Science Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts

Have I already identified sources about my issue? If you have already located promising sources, search citation indexes to identify sources that refer to your sources. Depending on your area, you might search the following databases:

Science Citation Index
Social Sciences Citation Index
Arts & Humanities Citation Index

Is the full text of the source available? Full-text databases offer the complete source for viewing or download. These databases cut out the middle step of locating the specific periodical that published the article. Databases that offer some of or all their sources in full text include

Academic Search Premier
ERIC
IEEE Xplore
LexisNexis Academic
ScienceDirect

Am I searching for images, video, or audio? If you are seeking nontextual sources, turn to media databases such as the following:

ARTstor
AccessScience
Mountain West Digital Library