Selecting articles in databases

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Most databases, such as ProQuest and LexisNexis, list at least the following information, which can help you decide if a source is relevant, current, scholarly, and a suitable length for your purposes.

After you have conducted a search, you can scan for potential sources and preview the most promising.

Scanning results for potential sources

Look for keywords that are associated with an article in the results. Sometimes those keywords can suggest other searches that might generate additional relevant articles.

Note: Don’t confuse the name of the database (such as Academic OneFile) with the title of a journal that the database indexes (such as The Journal of American History).

Previewing promising sources

Related topics:

Selecting books

Selecting Web sources

Database searches