Research Databases
Why use databases for your research?
Databases are curated, or selected, collections of resources. You can trust that they are legitimate sources, and not websites that are trying to sell you something or spread fake news.
You can use Advanced Search features, which enable you to filter your results based on the type of source you want (such as newspaper or academic journal), the date, and other search criteria.
Databases include scholarly, peer-reviewed articles, which are considered the most reliable type of source. Sometimes your teacher will require you to find a scholarly source.
From a database, it is easy to save something you find to Google Drive, email it, or print it.
Databases have built-in citation tools, which makes it easy to cite your source properly.
TIPS FROM MS. HOLLAND
Decide on your search terms before you start, but be prepared to change your search terms if you don’t find useful information right away.
If you don’t find enough results to choose from, you may have to broaden your search terms.
If you find too many results, you may have to narrow your search terms.
Once you find a source that seems relevant to your topic, read it (or at least skim it) to make sure it answers your question. Try to FIND your search terms in the source by using ctrl + F or command + F.
Save the source in Google Drive or email a link to yourself. You will need to come back to it later on to reread it, take notes, and create a citation.
If you need to print a source, preview it first to make sure you are not printing extra pages at the end.