Databases are online indexes of journal articles and abstracts. Many include full-text journal articles. Some databases also contain book chapters, newspaper/magazine articles, citations for books, and more.
In plain English, a database is what you would use to find articles!
Below, I have selected targeted databases for your assignment. However, you can always search the A-Z database list for database subjects to see what else might be available. Since the name of the database might not match the subject, searching is the best way to access databases. For example, CINAHL is a database about nursing, but it does not have nursing in its title. The search box at the top of the page allows you to search for subjects to narrow down your list of database choices.
A great starting point for research in many subjects. Includes thousands of full-text articles from both scholarly journals and popular magazines in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Watch Tutorials ▶️
A one-stop place for business research. It has thousands of articles, scholarly journals (some going back over 100 years!), company profiles, industry reports, market research, SWOT analyses, and financial data. Watch Tutorials ▶️
Research diverse perspectives on current events and trends in areas such as Political Science, English, Sociology, Humanities, Business, and more, with trusted sources like the Akron Beacon Journal, Plain Dealer, and USA Today.
Access every article published in The New York Times since 1851, fully searchable. To get started, enter “Hiram College” on the login page and click Go. If you're off campus, you'll be prompted to log in with your Hiram email credentials. Once you're connected, you can read articles on the website or download the NYTimes app for convenient mobile access using the same login.
Indexes psychology articles and book chapters published worldwide from 1887 to the present. Great for finding peer-reviewed, empirical research across many psychology topics. Watch Tutorials ▶️
A great starting point for research in many subjects. Includes thousands of full-text articles from both scholarly journals and popular magazines in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Watch Tutorials ▶️
Full-text access to over 7,000 scholarly journals across many subjects—all in one searchable database.
Search and read full-text articles from nearly 1,000 scholarly journals. JSTOR has older journal issues going back to the very first but usually doesn’t include the most recent 3 to 5 years. It covers lots of subjects across many fields. Watch Tutorials ▶️
Get in-depth, expert-written overviews of major topics in fields like History, Political Science, Literature, Psychology, and more. Each article is reviewed by scholars and regularly updated to reflect current research. Great for background reading, building your understanding of key concepts, and finding credible sources for your papers.
Research diverse perspectives on current events and trends in areas such as Political Science, English, Sociology, Humanities, Business, and more, with trusted sources like the Akron Beacon Journal, Plain Dealer, and USA Today.
A one-stop place for business research. It has thousands of articles, scholarly journals (some going back over 100 years!), company profiles, industry reports, market research, SWOT analyses, and financial data. Watch Tutorials ▶️
Part of the Web of Knowledge platform, this is the combined database of the Science Citation Index, the Social Science Citation Index, and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index. Searchable by keyword and author, but more importantly by cited reference.
Containing more than 15,000 credible news, legal and business sources, Nexis Uni includes access to print and online journals, television and radio broadcasts, newswires and blogs, as well as local, regional, national and international newspapers, legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes, business information on U.S. and international companies and executives. Watch Tutorials ▶️
Indexes psychology articles and book chapters published worldwide from 1887 to the present. Great for finding peer-reviewed, empirical research across many psychology topics. Watch Tutorials ▶️
Reading the bibliographies of a good article or book can be very helpful. But how do you find one of the sources listed? Look up the part written in italics.
If your citation looks something like the one below, then it's an article. (Hint: You know it's a journal article if you see volume/issue/page #s.)
Morrow, P. ‘‘Those Sick Challenger Jokes.’’ Journal of Popular Culture. 20.4 (1987): 175-84.
Finding it:
-look up the title of the journal in the OneSource Journal Finder (Note: Look up the journal title, which is in italics, not the "article title," which is in "quotation marks.")
-if the journal is available electronically, you can search within the journal itself or click on the "Full Text Access" link, and check if we have access to the year you need
-if the journal is available in print, read the rest of the journal's record to see if we have the volume/issue you need
If your citation looks something like the one below, then it's a book. (Hint: You know it's a book if you see a city and a publisher/press)
Framing Monsters: Fantasy Film and Social Alienation; Bellin, Joshua David; 2005, Carbondale : Southern Illinois University Press.
Finding it:
-look up the title of the book in the Hiram Library Catalog
-if we don't have it, click on the OhioLINK button to find it in another Ohio library
Subject headings describe the content of each item in a database. Use these headings to find relevant items on the same topic. Searching by subject headings (a.k.a. descriptors) is the most precise way to search article databases.
It is not easy to guess which subject headings are used in a given database. For example, the phone book's Yellow Pages use subject headings. If you look for "Movie Theatres" you will find nothing, as they are listed under the subject heading "Theatres - Movies."
Keyword searching is how you typically search web search engines. Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results. Once you find relevant articles, see what their subjects are and search using those!
Here are some key points about each type of search:
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When you search a database and do not get the results you expect, Ask Us for advice.
The words "AND," "OR," and "NOT" can help you make a search more precise. This is called Boolean searching, and it can seem really intimidating, but once you get the hang of them, Boolean searches can really help you!
For example, the search 'films AND psychology NOT children', will return a search with results that contain the keywords 'films' and 'pyschology' but not 'children' - important if you are only looking at adolescent psychology in films.
Learn more with this guide from the MIT libraries. It really helps explain Boolean searching, and you don’t have to be a computer scientist to understand!