A library database is a searchable electronic index of published, reliable resources. Databases provide access to a wealth of useful research materials from academic journals, newspapers, and magazines. Some databases also include e-books, relevant Web resources, and various multimedia.
Because library article databases don't understand natural language, keywords are part of our search strategy to find the best academic sources available online.
Keyword Searches:
Tip #1: When searching for articles in a database, choose keywords instead of typing in a sentence or question.
Tip #2: When developing keywords, identify main ideas, synonyms, and broader, narrower, or related terms.
Online Research: Tips for Effective (Search) Strategies: This three minute video describes three important search tips that will save you precious time.
In class I'll show a sample search that's related to your paper topic but not exactly what you'll be searching for yourself.
Broad topic for background research: Sexual identity among African American men.
Narrower topic - research question: What social/societal factors adversely affect sexual identity of college-aged African American men?
Go to OneSearch.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) *
Full-text articles from leading journals. Coverage is multi-disciplinary and includes full text for more than 3,700 peer-reviewed titles; searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles. Updated daily. 1975 -