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Search Databases

Once you’ve identified a promising question, learn whether — and how — other writers have attempted to answer it. Analytical essays tend to draw on information and analyses from other sources in addition to the writer’s personal knowledge and interpretation, so even if you already know a great deal about a subject, be sure to review other writers’ contributions to the conversation and to look for sources you can use to support your analysis.

Databases can give you an in-depth understanding of your subject, as well as a sense of useful interpretive frameworks, existing interpretations, and unanswered questions. They allow you to search for analyses that have been published on a particular subject or in a particular discipline. Although some databases, such as ERIC (eric.ed.gov), can be accessed publicly through the Web, most are available only through a library’s computers or Web site.

To identify databases that might be relevant to the subject you are analyzing, review your library’s list of databases or consult a reference librarian. The following questions can get you started.

Has the subject been addressed in recent news coverage? If so, consider searching databases that focus on newspapers and weekly magazines, such as LexisNexis Academic, ProQuest Newspapers, or Alternative Press Index.
Is the subject related to a broad area of interest, such as business, education, or government? If so, search databases that focus on general publications, such as Academic Search Premier, Articles First, or Catalog of U.S. Government Publications.
Is the subject related to a particular profession or academic discipline? If so, consult databases that focus on that area. Many libraries provide guidance on which databases are relevant to a particular profession or discipline.
Have I already identified any promising sources? By searching citation indexes (databases that identify sources that cite a particular source), you can identify additional sources that refer to the sources you already have. Depending on your subject, you might search the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, or Arts & Humanities Citation Index.
Is the full text of the source available? Full-text databases offer the complete source for viewing or downloading. They cut out the middle step of searching for the physical periodical that published the article. If you don’t know whether your library owns the sources provided by a database, or if you would simply like to locate them more quickly, consider using full-text databases. Databases such as Academic Search Premier, ERIC, and LexisNexis Academic offer some or all of their sources in full text.

Generate keywords and phrases that are related to your interpretive question, and search a few different databases for potential resources. Using the citation information provided by the database, check your library’s online catalog for the title of the publication in which the article appears. Your library might own many of the sources you’ll identify through a database search, but if it doesn’t, you can usually request promising materials through interlibrary loan.

You can read more about searching databases as well as interlibrary loan in Chapter 12.