Search Techniques

SECTION 2: FINDING ARTICLES

A.  Choosing a Database 

• What is a database?
• Considerations for choosing a database
• ODU databases
• Accessing ODU databases

What is a database? A database is an electronic collection of records. There are many types of records: citations, tables of contents, datasets, directory information, etc.  Records are designed to be a brief representation or surrogate of the original work.

The type of database you'll need for finding articles is also referred to as a periodical index or abstracted index (abstract). The records in these types of databases are made up of fields, such as Author, Title, Year of Publication, etc.

Many databases include the full text for some or all of the articles indexed. If the full article is not available, you will still find the bibliographic citation and perhaps the abstract, and you will need to find the full text of the article elsewhere. 

The periodical databases that you would use to identify articles are usually part of a larger search system. For example, EBSCOhost, FirstSearch, and Cambridge Scientific Abstracts are all large search systems that offer a number of databases covering various topics.

Next:  Sample Record from a database