Module 2: Which Database?

Peirce College Information Literacy Tutorial

Choosing an appropriate database, or periodical index, is an essential part of research. How are you going to choose among those available from your library?

Library databases organize particular types of materials. Some index citations for government documents, conference proceedings, book reviews, or magazine and journal articles. Others, like your library catalog, focus on a particular collection. Knowing what type of information you are looking for will make your selection easier.

Most library databases specialize in a particular subject. There are databases for business, information technology, law, and news--just to name a few. Other databases are more general, or multidisciplinary, indexing popular and scholarly periodicals from a wide variety of topics.

For articles about:	Use a:	Such as:
privacy and the Internet	multidisciplinary database	Academic Search Elite (EbscoHost)
network security	specialized database	Faulkners Advisory for IT Studies
marketing at Nike	specialized database	Academic Universe OR Business Source Premier(EbscoHost)

You will find the databases on the Peirce Library website. You may also want to ask a librarian; they can usually recommend the best ones for your topic.

In 'library-speak', a periodical is anything that is published on a regular basis, such as a magazine. A periodical index points out where articles on certain subjects appear in many different magazines, journals and newspapers.

Back in the day, periodical indexes used to be compiled and printed in volumes. If your library has been around for awhile, you can probably find a couple of these older, dusty indexes. The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, those green volumes you may have used to find articles for your term papers, are periodical indexes too.

Now, many indexes are available online from your library. Some may only be available if you visit the library in person, while others are accessible over the Web. Besides the standard citation information, some of these newer indexes contain abstracts or even the full text of the article online.

Citations, in the research world, have nothing to do with traffic tickets. Instead, citations identify published information - print or electronic - in order to locate that item again. Citations of articles often include the author, title, magazine or journal name, page numbers and publication information. Citations of Web documents also include a URL and the date the information was accessed.

The list of the sources you used when researching your paper is called a List of Works Cited or Bibliography (it depends on the style you use). This list allows others who read your work to verify facts or research the same information more easily. These citations follow an established style, such as MLA (Modern Language Association), APA (American Psychological Association) or Chicago Manual of Style.

The library catalog is a database that identifies where items are located in the library.

How do you search for items in the catalog? Most library catalogs allow you to search by keyword, author, title or subject. Some require you to use special commands or enter terms in a specific way.

Author: search last name first
Looking for: Vinton Cerf
Search: cerf, vinton

Title: drop the first article (a, an, the)
Looking for: The Complete Internet User's Guide
Search: Complete Internet User's Guide

Subject: use subject headings
Looking for: the history of the Internet
Search: Internet (Computer network)--History.

Peirce College Information Literacy Tutorial

For articles about:

Use a:

Such as: