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Find Articles: Using Library Databases
Contents
- Overview: What's in a library database?
- Why do I need to use a library database?
- Where should I start?
- How do I search a library database?
- How can I improve my search?
- How do I search many databases at once?
- What are Quick Searches?
- How do I evaluate what I find?
- How do I cite what I find?
- How can I locate a print journal in a library?
- Where can I get more help?
Overview: What's in a library database?
The library databases that UMUC subscribes to provide you with access to a wide variety of online resources, including:
- Current and archived articles from scholarly journals, magazines, and national and regional newspaper articles. Example: Harvard Business Review.
- Financial data, company and industry information, legal research information, biographical information, statistics, polls, transcripts of television and radio programs, and much more.
- E-books (books online).
As a current UMUC student, faculty or staff, you can access UMUC's online library databases 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, worldwide from any computer with Internet browser capability.
Copyright ©, each individual vendor, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Why do I need to use a library database?
- Databases provide access to subject-specific scholarly research material and UMUC has access to more than 140 different databases.
- The library databases UMUC subscribes to contain tens of thousands of articles that you can use to research topics for your classes. Since the majority of these articles are not freely available on the Web, and can not be found using traditional search engines such as Google and Yahoo, using the library databases is a effective way to find high-quality information for your assignments.
- Your instructors may require you to use articles found only in scholarly/academic/peer-reviewed journals, which can easily be located in the library databases.
- Scholarly articles are written by researchers, professors, or students and can be accessed in research or academic journals. Scholarly, peer-reviewed or refereed articles have the highest level of credibility because they have been put through a rigorous system of review by peer scholars in order to guarantee that what has been written has been thoroughly checked for accuracy and reliability.
- The terms peer reviewed or refereed are also often used to describe scholarly journals. They are sometimes also called research journals or academic journals. Strictly speaking, not all scholarly journals are refereed, but the terms are often used interchangeably. You will find a more extensive definition of refereed articles at
What is a Refereed/Peer-reviewed Article.
- For more information on locating articles from scholarly/academic/peer-reviewed journals see Identify and Locate Scholarly Journals.
- Scholarly articles are written by researchers, professors, or students and can be accessed in research or academic journals. Scholarly, peer-reviewed or refereed articles have the highest level of credibility because they have been put through a rigorous system of review by peer scholars in order to guarantee that what has been written has been thoroughly checked for accuracy and reliability.
Where should I start?
Decide from what point of view (e.g., business, political, cultural, social, historical, psychological, anthropological, educational, etc.) you want to approach your topic. It is better to examine your topic from more than one point of view in order to get a more well-rounded focus.
Look for a database that contains resources on that particular subject. Each database provides a description of the subject areas that it covers as well as the types of included materials and the date coverage.You can access the library databases in several ways:
- The Articles & More link on the library's home page.
- The Articles link at the top of most library Web pages.
- In WebTycho, click on the Library Databases link in the Library Services' menu in the upper right corner of the screen.
There are several options you can use to find articles in a library database.
Option 1: A general place to get started
If you are looking for a general place to get started, try a multidisciplinary database that has full text articles on many different subjects. Note that these multidisciplinary databases do not provide in-depth coverage of specific subjects and also include non-scholarly material.
For more in-depth research on a particular topic you will find it useful to consult a subject guide. Each subject guide provides access to relevant databases, e-books, print books and Web sites.
To access the subject guides:
- From the Information and Library Services' home page, click on Search by Subject
- Click on a subject related to your topic.
- Then select a database to search. The description under each listing gives a brief overview of the database.
- Please feel contact ask a librarian for assistance.
Option 3: Library Databases by Title (A-Z list of all databases)
If you know the specific name of the database you need, use A-Z list of all databases:
- On the Information and Library Services' home page, click on Articles & More.
- From the A-Z list, click on the letter with which the database begins. For example, click A for ABI/INFORM.
- Click on the specific database listed under that letter.
If you know the title of a particular journal, but are not sure which database provides access, use Journal Finder:
- On the Information and Library Services' home page, click on Articles & More.
- Click on Journal Finder and More.
- More information on Journal Finder can be found by clicking on the How to Use Journal Finder link.
Once you click on a link to a library database or Journal Finder, log in using your last name and your library barcode number (available on your UMUC ID card), SSN, or EMPLID.
How do I search a library database?
- Once you have selected a database, enter keywords that you want to search for into the search box and press Enter or click on Search. Here is how a search for the keywords globalization and human resources would look in the database Business Source Premier.
- A list of titles will appear. If you get no results, make sure your words are spelled correctly, or try alternate words or phrases.
How do I find full-text articles in the library databases?
As you search the library databases, you will find articles available in full-text that can be viewed online in HTML format or in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. The PDF format provides a copy of the full article as it appears in a print journal. The HTML format may not have graphs or images, but it generally displays more quickly in a Web browser. To view an article, click on either HTML full-text or PDF full-text links. See the citation example below for examples of HTML and PDF links:
How do I find full-text articles if there are no PDF or HTML full-text links available?
- Option 1: Use find it.
The
button allows you to find out if an article is available in full-text in another library database. If you see a button next to an article listing in which you are interested, click on it to see if the article is available in a different library database. Below is an example of how 'find it' works. For more information on 'find it', see our find it FAQ.
- Option 2: Use our Ask a librarian service!
We are here to help you try to locate the article you need.
- Option 3: Request an article via our DocumentExpress service.
If an article is not available from a library database, as a UMUC student, faculty or staff member, you may obtain the article using the UMUC library's document delivery services. If you click on and no full text article is located, submit a request via DocumentExpress.
Can I print, e-mail or save articles or citations?
Full-text articles and citations can be printed, e-mailed, or saved to a disk or flash drive. In the database you are using, look for links called e-mail, print, or save, which are often located towards the top of the database interface.
Databases contain different information and you will want to try several databases in order to be comprehensive as you search. Even databases which cover the same topics may subscribe to different journals on those topics. Checking several databases in a specific discipline will help you to more fully explore your research question.
For example, if you are researching a business topic, you may want to try searching in both ABI/Inform and Business Source Premier (two different business databases) in order to maximize your search results. In addition, you will want to explore your research question from different perspectives (e.g., historical, sociological, psychological, etc.). To do this, try searches in databases that include that particular subject area in its coverage. To switch to another database, you can click the back button or use the History feature in your browser to return to the place where you initially selected a database to search. Another option may be to search more than one database at a time.
How can I improve my search?
If you are not finding what you want, below are some tips for improving your search results. If you are unsure about your topic, you may want to consult our Research Skills Tutorial for tips on how improve your topic. You are also welcome to contact a librarian to discuss what you are looking for.
Identifying keywords
You can not use complete sentences to search the library databases. Use the main concepts of your research question or thesis statement as the keywords in your search.
You may also want to do some preliminary exploration of your topic to see if you can identify some additional key ideas or terminology that may be useful to include in your search.
Some databases also include an online thesaurus, which provides a way of entering a possible search term to determine what term(s) the database uses for your suggested term. This is especially useful as a way of including related terms that you may not have considered.
Keyword searching
If you are unsure of the correct vocabulary for a particular database, begin with a keyword search.
Keyword searching looks for the term anywhere in the record, which means the word could be included in the title, abstract, full-text or be the subject term.
This type of search usually brings back too many records, many which may prove to be totally unrelated; however, it may be the only option when a concept is so new that standardized vocabulary has not yet been developed.
Subject searching
You will find more focused results using the vocabulary that the database uses, usually referred to as the subject or descriptor.
A subject/descriptor search looks only for results with the specified term(s) in the subject/descriptor field.
lf you are unsure of the specific subject/descriptor term, try doing a keyword search and when you find an article that looks like it may be useful, open up the record for that article and look at what terms the database uses to describe the content.
Using AND
If you want more than one term or phrase to be included in your search use AND between the terms.
This is used to narrow a search, as you will receive results that contain all of the terms that you combined using AND. The more terms you combine, the fewer results you will get.
For example, if you want to locate research on human resources and globalization, then a search could look like this:
human resources AND globalization
Using OR
To broaden your search, list possible search terms and include any synonyms or alternative terms, using OR between each word.
This is helpful as it will provide you with more search results. Remember that "OR = MORE" search results.
For example, if you are searching for information regarding human resources and you are not sure if that is the proper term to search on you can add an alternative term or synonym such as HR. Such a search will look like this:
human resources OR HR
We can group synonyms by putting parentheses around the terms when combining them with an AND statement. This lets the system know that this is one concept, but it could be any of these words. For example:
(human resources OR HR) AND globalization
When parentheses are used, those terms inside the parentheses are searched first. If more than one set of parentheses are included, usually the one on the left is searched first. For some databases there is no difference in the search results between using parentheses and not using them.
Using NOT
There may be times when you need to exclude a term altogether in order to narrow your search. This may occur if you are receiving results on an unrelated topic. For example:
human resources NOT natural resources
Using quotation marks
Typically, when a phrase is enclosed by double quotation marks, the exact phrase is searched. For example:
("human resources" OR HR) AND globalization
Truncation
Another useful technique is to truncate the search term. Truncation allows you to search on variations of words by searching for words with an identical root, but with different endings.
Although this is a useful tool, especially if you want to retrieve results with all possible word endings, it can also add unrelated items to your results.
Some databases may not allow truncated words if the possible results are too large. If this happens add more letters to the root word.
The usual symbol is an asterisk (*), but check the database help menu to determine the symbol used for that database.
For example, if you truncated the term "globalization" and used: global* ...then your results could include global, globalize, globalization, etc.:
("human resources" OR HR) AND global*
How do I search many databases at once?
Sometimes you may want to search more than one database at a time, also referred to as cross-searching. Because subject terms vary from database to database you will be conducting a keyword search when cross-searching, so you may also get unrelated results.
Research Port
Research Port enables you to search more than one library database at the same time, as well as save, organize, and e-mail your search results.
- From the library Web page click on Articles & More.
- Click on Research Port and log in with your 14-digit barcode number or your social security number.
- The Research Port help page includes a Tutorial and a Help Menu.
Specific databases
You may also be able to cross-search databases that are owned by the same vendor, if the database vendor provides such a feature. For example, EBSCOHost is a database vendor of such databases as Academic Search Premier, Business Sources Premier, MasterFILE Premier, ERIC, PsycINFO and many others. You can search all of the EBSCOHost databases at once, or pick and choose which databases to search at the same time, depending on the topic that you are researching.
The following library database vendors provide cross-searching. To search multiple databases, follow the instructions below:
- Under Library Databases by Title, click on A and then on Academic Search Premier.
- Click the Choose Databases tab.
- On the next page, check the box for each database you want to search.
- Click Continue at the top or the bottom of the page. You are now ready to cross-search the databases you selected.
- Under Library Databases by Title, click on A and then on ABI/Inform.
- Click on Select multiple databases, next to the search box.
- On the next page, check the box for each database you want to search.
- Click Continue at the top or the bottom of the screen. You are now ready to cross-search the databases you selected.
- Under Library Databases by Title, click on W and then on WilsonSelect Plus.
- Click on the tab called Databases.
- On the next page, check the box for each database you want to search. You may select up to three databases to search at a time.
- Click Select at the top or the bottom of the screen. You are now ready to cross-search the databases you selected.
- Under Library Databases by Title, click on P and then on PAIS International.
- Click on the Specific Databases link.
- On the next page, check the box for each database you want to search.
- Click the Continue to Search link at the top or the bottom of the screen. You are now ready to cross-search the databases you selected.
What are Quick Searches?
On the right sidebar of the library home page you will find three Quick Search boxes:
Find an Article
Use the Article Quick Search option to explore topics that do NOT require in-depth research. With Article Quick Search, you can simultaneously search eight databases covering multiple subjects:
- ABI/Inform
- Academic Search Premier
- Business Source Premier
- JSTOR
- PsycINFO
- ProQuest Computing
- Science Direct
- SocINDEX with Fulltext
There are still over 130 additional databases available for your more in-depth research needs. To access the listing of all available databases, click on the "More Databases" link.
Article Quick Search provides searching by All Fields, Title, Author and Subject. All Fields searching will look for your term(s) in the title, author, subject, abstract and full-text fields. Search results using All Fields may include items that are totally unrelated to the original search.
Find an E-Journal
The e-journal quick search option provides an easy way to look up the title of a particular journal. Enter a journal title in the search box and you will be directed to a listing of journals with the words you enter as part of the title. If you choose the Title Starts With option, your results listing will include journals whose titles start with that word. If you choose the Title Contains option your results listing will consist of all journals containing that word in the title. Click on the journal title or the Find It button for access to articles within full-text journals or for more information about that journal.
If you do not see the particular journal title in the list, make sure that your spelling is correct or enter more terms.
Find a Book
When using this Quick Search option you will be searching the online catalog, catalogUSMAI, which provides access to circulating materials from the University System of Maryland and its affiliated institutions. The search options in Quick Search are the same as those in catalogUSMAI Basic Search. Enter in your search terms and you will be searching the catalog directly. You can then continue your search in catalogUSMAI or return to Quick Searches.
How do I evaluate what I find?
Evaluating what you find is an important part of the research process. You can determine whether an article may be useful based on just the citation, or the citation and abstract, by clicking on the article title and opening up the article record, which provides details about the article. You can examine the citation to help determine if the article is even worth considering. Criteria to consider include:
- Are the author's affiliation and credentials available? If so, do they specify that he/she is from a particular educational institution or organization? Keep in mind that not all databases include this information.
- Is the publication date current so that you know that the information is up-to-date or relevant to the time period being discussed?
- What is the length of the article? If it is just 2-3 pages, it is less likely to provide in-depth coverage of the subject matter.
- Is there an abstract that provides a synopsis of the article?
- Is it scholarly or peer-reviewed?
Once you obtain the actual text of an article, you will need to determine if the article is worth including as a source for your research. Criteria to include in the evaluation process are:
- Who is the intended audience? Is it too specialized or too general?
- Is there objectivity? Do you detect any bias? Is it based on fact or opinion?
- What is the scope of the coverage? Is it a summary of published works or in-depth reporting of original research? Does it provide any new information? Is it based on primary or secondary sources?
- Is this article clear on what is being said? Is it easy to follow and does it provide conclusions?
- Are other sources referenced to support what is being said? This demonstrates that the author put his/her research in context with that of others in the field.
- Are there charts, graphs, or other supporting documentation?
How do I cite what I find?
Any content that includes that is not your own ideas or consists of general knowledge (e.g., Abraham Lincoln's birthday, number of planets, membership of Congress, etc.) has to be cited to indicate where the information came from. Citation styles (such as APA, MLA, and Chicago) were created to standardize this process. It is important that you learn how to effectively manage and cite information you collect during your research. Otherwise you could unintentionally commit plagiarism.
The UMUC Effective Writing Center's How to Avoid Plagiarism tutorial is a useful source to consult on how to avoid inadvertent plagiarism. See also UMUC's Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory Academic Integrity and Dishonesty Policies: What Every Students Needs to Know. The Indiana University School of Education's How to Recognize Plagiarism guide is another useful source to consult.
The following resources provide guidance in the proper use of APA style citation:
- APA Citation Examples
This page shows you how to format citations for digital sources (such as Web sites, articles found in library databases, and electronic books) and print sources (such as printed books and journals).
- APA Formatting and Style Guide
Information on APA citation style from the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University.
- APA Style.org
APA (American Psychological Association) Web site on APA style.
- APA: Citation Explained Tutorial
A tutorial from the UMUC library that will give you a quick, effective introduction to using APA to cite your information sources.For a more comprehensive treatment of APA style including examples for print and online resources, see the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Note that this manual is only available in print and is not available online.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
The following resources provide guidance in the proper use of MLA style citation :
- MLA Citation Examples
This page shows you how to format citations for digital sources (such as Web sites, articles found in library databases, and electronic books) and print sources (such as printed books and journals).
- MLA Formatting and Style Guide
Information on MLA citation style from the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University.
- Frequently Asked Questions about MLA Style
MLA (Modern Language Association) Web site on MLA style.
- MLA Citation Style Simplified
A tutorial from the UMUC library that will give you a quick, effective introduction to using MLA to cite your information sources.For a more comprehensive treatment of MLA style see the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th edition). Note that this resource is only available in print and is not available online.
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. New York: Modern Language Association, 2003.
The following resources provide guidance in the proper use of Chicago style citation:
- Chicago Manual of Style Quick Start Guide
Examples of proper formatting for print and electronic sources in Chicago style.
- Citation Styles: Chicago Style
Information on how to cite and document sources in Chicago style, from Bedford/St. Martin's.
- The Writing Center-University of Wisconsin Madison
Information on Chicago style from The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- UMBC Department of History Style Sheet
This page from the University of Maryland Baltimore County Department of History provides examples and information on Chicago style.For a more comprehensive treatment of Chicago style see the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition).
The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th edition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2003.
RefWorks is a Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows you to create your own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases. You can use these references in writing papers and automatically format in-text citations and the bibliography in various citation styles such as APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc. This bibliographic management software allows you to:
- Organize your research
- Include citations when you write your paper
- Build a bibliography in a variety of formats
- Import references from many data sources
- Create bibliographies in different document formats (Word, RTF, HTML, etc.)
When using RefWorks, you may need to check and edit the citation format for some records. Be sure to check carefully all of your citations before submitting assignments.
For help using RefWorks, watch the library's audio-visual RefWorks Overview, or see the RefWorks Tutorial and/or Quick Start Guide for more information.
The first time you use RefWorks, click "Sign up for an Individual Account" and create a username and password.
How can I locate a print journal in a library?
To see if a journal is available in the libraries of the University System of Maryland and affiliated institutions, use catalogUSMAI. Be sure to search for the journal title. To determine if the source you need is available in other libraries near you, check the library catalog of a local institution. To find out what institutions are located near you, consult Libdex or Libweb, which provide worldwide directories of libraries, or contact a UMUC librarian. Libraries usually do not circulate, or lend, journals, so you may need to read the article in the library or make a photocopy. If an article is not available in a library database, as a current UMUC student, faculty or staff member, you may obtain the article using Information and Library Services' Document Express service.
Where can I get more help?
- Check the search tips and help available within the specific library database you are using.
- Ask a librarian! UMUC librarians provide help online and face-to-face. Our chat and e-mail services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.