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What are databases? They are kind of confusing, to be honest. One reason is the name itself; the word "database" is not very precise and can mean a lot of different things. So, for example, Netflix is a database that contains records that represent movies and TV shows, right? And Amazon is a database that contains records that represent things you can buy. While your bank account is a database of your banking transactions.
But this section of Lesson 6 is about a different type of database altogether – namely, those used for finding published sources. What types of published sources? Well, journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, conference papers, book chapters, theses, dissertations, etc.
Note that sometimes you hear people refer to these databases as library databases since they are made available to you on your library's website.
When you search a database and come up with some results, you'll usually be presented with brief records. You can click on any one of these brief records to pull up the full record.
You are probably familiar with how this works on Amazon. For example, if you run a search on Jansport backpacks, you'll get a bunch of Jansport backpacks to look at in your results, and you can click on any of those results to see more information about a particular backpack.
Now, look below at the search on Ponderosa pine fire Arizona. This search was conducted in the database CAB Abstracts in order to find journal articles about fires in Arizona's ponderosa pine forests.
Just like with Amazon, if you click on the brief view of a record, you'll open the full view - in this case, the full view of a record for a journal article.
Also, notice in the image above that when CAB Abstracts finds one of the keywords you entered into your search a database record, it highlights it. Isn't that adorable?!?
Remember, in the same way that Amazon only contains RECORDS that REPRESENT products, most library databases only contain RECORDS that REPRESENT sources. With Amazon you have to buy the item in order to actually have it, and with most databases you have to find a link within the record that looks like it'll lead you to full-text in order to read the actual source. Don't worry, you'll learn more about how to get to full-text later in this lesson.
Now that you know a little bit more about what databases are, you can get started searching using the options listed below!
1. Use Quick Search to find sources.
1. Use Quick Search to find sources.
Quick Search allows you to search for information in sources like books, journal articles, magazine articles, and newspaper articles. Are you ready to try it?
1. Go to Cline Library's website.
2. Type keywords (not whole sentences) into Quick Search that represent your topic. (Consult Identify keywords to search if you need help.) For example, suppose this is your topic: What strategies and policies could reduce incidents of maritime piracy?
For that topic, the fewest number of essential keywords to start with are probably just maritime piracy. You can always add more keywords later if feel you need to.
3. When you get your results, look to the left for options to Limit My Results.
4. Notice that you can limit your results to articles that are in Peer-reviewed Journals, a type of scholarly source.
5. And, you can limit to Material Type to find other types of sources, such as books. (Note that sometimes you have to click Show More to see the option to limit to books.)
Take note! Quick Search can help you find popular sources available at Cline library, as well as lots of scholarly sources. This is important because you'll likely encounter college assignments that require you to find scholarly sources.
QUESTION 1. Try a search on dogs in Quick Search. What sorts of Material Types can you select to limit your results?
A. Articles, Book Chapters, Books, Toys, Conference Proceedings
B. Newspaper Articles, Dissertations, Book Chapters, Datasets, Donuts
C. Articles, Book Chapters, Images, Pinwheels, PDFs
D. None of the above
(Answer at bottom of page.)QUESTION 2. Quick Search has an option for you to limit your results to sources that are written in English.
true
false
FYI - If you are off campus, you may find it easier to access library databases and full text sources if you set up your internet connection through NAU's VPN service: https://in.nau.edu/its/remote-services/
2. Or, use other library databases to find sources.
2. Or, use other library databases to find sources.
To find more databases, go to the library's website and select the link to Find databases just under the Quick Search box.
Ok. But why bother to search other databases? Because sometimes Quick Search is extremely flaky and you'll find better results when you try another database. True story.
When you select Find databases, a new page will open and you'll see an option to select subjects from a drop-down list. Select the subject area(s) your topic falls under to find the best databases.
You can also navigate to databases by title if you already know the name of the database you want to use.
A good alternative database to Quick Search is Academic Search Complete, in case you are interested.
Take note again! When you check out the databases Cline Library has available through the Find databases link, you'll find that many will help you find scholarly sources. This is important because you'll likely encounter college assignments that require you to find these types of sources. So, take some time to explore these databases and start using them!!!
QUESTION 3. Navigate to Academic Search Complete using the instructions just above. Then, try a search on hip hop history. Just like Quick Search, this database offers lots of ways to limit your search. Just look to the left of your results. What is the text of the link would you click to limit to sources in peer-reviewed journals?
A. Peer Reviewed
B. Refereed journals
C. Peer-reviewed articles
D. Peer-reviewed sources
(Answer at bottom of page.)3. Or, use Google Scholar to find sources.
3. Or, use Google Scholar to find sources.
Google Scholar looks and works a lot like Google. But, Google Scholar returns different results than Google. When you search Google Scholar you'll retrieve records for journal articles, plus some books.
To find and search Google Scholar, just do a Google search on Google Scholar!
Take note yet again! Since Google Scholar helps you find journal articles, and journal articles are scholarly sources, Google Scholar is yet another resource for finding scholarly sources! This is important because you'll likely encounter college assignments that require you to find these types of sources.
QUESTION 4. Try a search Google Scholar. Suppose you are researching the ethics of food advertising on children. Try this search: food advertising children. When you get your results, what options do you see to the left to limit your results?
A. You can limit your results to peer-reviewed articles only, plus you can re-sort your results by relevance or date.
B. You can limit to sources only in English, plus you can limit by publication date range.
C. You can limit to sources from newspapers, plus you can re-sort your results by author.
D. You can limit your results by publication date range, plus you can re-sort your results by relevance or date.
(Answer at bottom of page.)What's next?
What's next?
Answers to questions on this page:Question 1. BQuestion 2. trueQuestion 3. AQuestion 4. D
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