Unit 5
Commercial
Databases
Can You Find an Answer?


Connect to Social Sciences Abstracts
Search:
 Cold
war (keyword):
 Cold war (title):
 Cold war (subject):
 Cold war (subject) and full-text:
 Combine cold war (subject) and
national security (keyword):
How many items from last
search are in Feinberg Library?
______ items
______ items
______ items
______ items
______ items
______ items
Unit 5: Commercial Databases
What they are
 What they contain
 Which one to use?
 Searching in databases
 Search results
 Where are the articles?
 Commercial databases and search
engines

What Is a Commercial Database?
 Database
and search engine
 Search interface
 Copyrighted materials
 Access only by paid subscription
What Do They Contain?

Most commercial databases contain
 Magazine,

journal, or newspaper articles
Some databases include
 Documents,

Few commercial databases contain
 Books

reports, research studies
(except for WORLDCAT)
Records in databases are of three kinds
 Citations, Abstracts,
Full-text
Citation Database
 Record
“cites” essential information
Author,
title, publication name, pages,
volume. year
 Enough
information to find source
(print, microfilm, online)
Abstract Database
 Citation
Brief
summary of article
 Purpose
Help
“plus”
of abstracts
you determine relevancy
Eliminate irrelevant, speed up research
Abstract cannot be used, quoted in
place of full-text reference
Full-Text Database

Citation, abstract “plus”
 Full
text of article online
 Graphics, charts
Most databases contain citations and
abstracts – but many now are full-text
also
 Although not all databases are full-text,
many provide links to full-text articles

Which One to Use?

General database
 Covers
all subjects
 Good for popular, less professional research
 InfoTrac, Readers’ Guide, ArticleFirst

Discipline database
 Covers
several related subjects
 Good for more in-depth, scholarly research
 Social Sciences Abstracts
Which One to Use?

Subject database




Covers one field only
Best for most in-depth, scholarly research
Psychological Abstracts
Check what the database contains
 Journal,
magazine, newspaper articles?
 Books?
 Other
kinds of research?
 What years are covered? Is it good for research
from the past?
Articles on “Outsourcing”
Which Database?
 Magazines
and journals
 General database
 Readers’ Guide, Infotrac, Proquest
 Scholarly

journals
Discipline database
 Social
Subject
 ABI
Sciences Abstracts (covers business)
database
Inform
Which Database?
 Use
Library’s web page
Alphabetical
listing A-Z
Subject listing by fields
Full-text database choices
Searching in Databases

Keyword
 Your

own words for a topic
Subject
 Discover

topic words used by the system
Field
 Search
for words in title, subject, abstract,
author, date fields

Boolean
 Combine
words with AND, OR
Keyword Searching
 Computer
looks for words in all or
several fields of record
General
Science Abstracts
 Vegetarians
 Has
potential for many hits
 Good way to start a search
Field Searching
 Looks
for words in a specified part
of a record (field)
Title
Abstract
Author
Subject,
 Terms
Descriptor
used by database system for topics
Boolean Searching
Using And, OR
Words can be input as keywords or as
field searches
 Combines words to expand or reduce
search results

 Vegetarians
OR vegans
 Vegetarianism AND nutrition
Search Results

Full-text
 Print,

email, read online
Citations, abstracts
Journals A-Z – read online
 Check library print copy, photocopy
 Check

Not online, not in the library?
 Use
Interlibrary Loan online and order
Commercial Databases and
Search Engines

Scholarly research in copyrighted
journals and magazines
 Use


commercial databases
Assures quality, in-depth research materials
Free, non-copyrighted information
 Use
search engines, directories
 Valuable
information from government, business,
organizations, institutions, individuals
 Quality, depth NOT ASSURED, left to you
Answers


Connect to social sciences abstracts
Search:
 Cold
war (keyword):
 Cold war (title):
 Cold war (subject):
 Cold war (subject) and full-text
 Combine cold war (subject) and
National security (keyword):
How many items from last
Search are in Feinberg library?
2,740+ items
890+ items
200+ items
6+ items
16 items
5 items
Homework

Online library catalog
 Field
searching
Selecting best databases for topics
 Using AND, OR, and field searching in
Readers’ Guide Abstracts and Expanded
Academic ASAP (full-text) databases
 TILT – module 2
