Finding Sources Advanced: Finding and Choosing Databases
Databases
Vocabulary
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- database
- index
- interdisciplinarity
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Definitions
An index or database is an electronic collection of records containing either full-text documents (text, video, music), citations, or abstracts of articles (or chapters in books) . UBC Library provides access to many different databases for a variety of subjects and disciplines taught on both campuses.
Databases can be interdisciplinary (spanning several disciplines) or subject-specific (focusing on a particular discipline, such as history, psychology, or literature).
Certain database providers (eg. EBSCO) may allow you access to many different databases. Don’t worry if you open multiple database links and they look the same as each other; you’re actually searching in different databases.
In the following video you’ll get a chance to explore a good multi-disciplinary database called Academic Search Premier, referred to in the video as Academic Search Complete. The video also covers how to limit your results list and to search for synonyms and particular phrases.
Link to: Transcipt for Academic Search Premier Download Transcipt for Academic Search Premier
Activity:
(Need the worksheet? Finding Sources Advanced Worksheet.docx Download Finding Sources Advanced Worksheet.docx)
- Let’s practice using the library homepage to find databases by subject. Can you find several relevant databases for your class or assignment? List them.
- Based on the results above, or your own search, open up two databases side by side. What do you notice is the same for these pages? What is different about them?
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