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Choosing an Article Database

Choosing the right article database can be tricky. You need to think about the type of sources you need (magazines, journals, newspapers, books, etc.), how much you know about the topic, and the subject area of your topic. 

What is the Subject of Your Topic?

It's important to think about what subject areas your topic falls under as different databases will have different perspectives. The Undergraduate Library's Find Articles Guide provides a good starting point for selecting databases. At the top of the Find Articles page you will note some basic, general databases that are good for beginning research on almost any topic; further down this page you will see databases listed for a wide variety of subject areas. 

For example, if your topic was "drugs" there are many different ways to narrow the focus of that topic and potential subject areas to look at.

Subject-Specific Database Tips

• Use the Find a Library page to check other libraries pages for their suggested databases. So if you're doing an assignment for a Communications class, go to the Communications Library page.
• Usually articles in subject-specific databases assume you have some background knowledge of the subject, and the articles often contain specialized language (jargon) that researchers in that field use. Unless you are familiar with your topic and the terminology associated with it, you may find articles in subject-specific databases more challenging to read and understand. Articles in discipline-based databases will usually have less jargon, and those found in general interest databases will normally use common terms.

For comments on this page contact: Undergraduate Library

Last modified by: Ashley Booth on 1/31/13