Searching in a variety of Databases
In class LIB102
Select the database America History and Life
(History/Political Science/Sociology)
This is an example of an indexing and abstracting database
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Click on the Advanced Search link
Check the box for articles only
Specify English for the language
Search for items about Latin America and the cold war
Type cold war in subject term
Type Latin America in keyword
o Expand Record #5
THE FORGOTTEN RELATIONSHIP: UNITED STATES-PARAGUAY
RELATIONS, 1937-89
to see all the information.
What Journal is this article in? ______________________________________
What is the volume # _____ and issue # _______ for this article.
Note the link that says [JStor].
JStor and Project Muse are two full-text “archive” journal collections the Library has
purchased. This means that we have the full run of journals in these collections, even if
they started in 1920. FYI: Most full-text databases start coverage around 1990-1995.
America History and Life is set up to link to articles in JStor, ProjectMuse, and
Ebsco.
o Click on the JStore full-text link for this article
o Click on the Print link
o Choose Proceed with Printing
What Happens? ___________________
How many pages is this article? ______________
Can you email it to yourself? ___________________
PsycArticles
o Find the PsyArticles database in one of the library menus
The PsycArticles database is an example of one of our other vendors called CSA
Illumina
Other CSA databases are: Bio One, Criminal Justice Abstracts, MLA (Modern Language
Association), PAIS (public affairs information service), Physical Education Index,
Social Service Abstracts, and Sociological Abstracts.
Assume you need to find information about the effects of video game violence on
children.
o Try typing the following in the search boxes:
“video games”
Violence OR Violent
Children OR teenagers
Note: the “” around video games means the computer will look for this as a phrase
How many articles did your search retrieve? _____________
o Choose one of the articles.
Article title: ___________________________________________________________
Evaluate (answer the following questions) this article based on the Evaluation
Criteria:
1. Is the journal scholarly, professional, or popular? Refer to the Pepperdine concise
guide for definitions. The type of information you wish to find--practical information or a
scholarly study or a recent news report--will determine what is the best type of periodical
article to use for your search.
2. Does the article tell you anything about the author's expertise or experience? Often
at the beginning or end of a periodical article there will be a brief paragraph giving
information about the author's background. You can also search the online catalog or a
periodical database by the author's name to see if s/he has written other books or articles
on the same topic or related topics.
3. How up-to-date is the article? The date of publication of the article is one clue. Another
clue is to look at the list of references (if there is one).
4. Is there a substantial bibliography/list of references at the end of the article? This is
one of the best clues to tell you if the article is scholarly or not. Scholarly articles require a
substantial bibliography. (This is the first thing I look at to determine if an article is
scholarly.)
5. What kind of article is it? Is it a research or theoretical study? Does it give
practical advice about how to do something? Does it report a current event? Is it
an opinion piece or indicate bias on the part of the author? The answers to these
questions will depend on the type of information you are looking for.
6. Who is the audience for this article?
CINAHL (nursing and medicine)
CINAHL is an example of an Ebsco database. Other Ebsco databases are:
Academic Search Premier, Business Source Premier, Education Resource Complete,
Health Source, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection.
Assume you are writing a paper examining the ethical implications of euthanasia for
nursing professionals.
o Try typing the following in the search boxes
Ethics
Euthanasia
Nurses
Find an article you think is relevant to your search topic:
Title: __________________________________________________________
Journal name: ____________________________________________________
Volume, Issue, and Page numbers ____________________________________