Gingrich Library: Harlem Renaissance: Finding Articles

Library Databases

Academic Search Complete
A multidisciplinary database of more than 8,500 fulltext periodicals with pdf content going back as far as 1887. Includes indexing and abstracting for more than 12,500 periodicals.
Gale Literature Criticism
IF NECESSARY, AT THE SIGN IN BOX, TYPE albright -- Searches criticism products produced by Gale including, Contemporary Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Poetry Criticism, and Short Story Criticism.
JSTOR
JSTOR is a shared digital library that includes the fulltext of more than 2,000 academic journals, dating back to the first volume published. Coverage varies depending on the journal title.
Due to "moving wall" agreements with the publishers, JSTOR does not include current issues of journals; the most recently published issue of any current journal will not appear in JSTOR until 1-5 years after the publishing date.
Literary Reference Center Plus
This rich full-text database provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and time frames. It gives students, professors and researchers a foundation of literary reference works to meet their research needs.
MLA International Bibliography
Premier database for literature and language studies. Indexes books, journals, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, bibliographies, and websites in world langauges, literature, folklore and customs. Coverage 1926-present
Includes MLA Directory of Periodicals, the MLA International Bibliography Database, and the MLA Directory of Periodicals.
Project Muse
Provides full-text access to more than 400 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. Coverage varies by publication; the earliest date of inclusion is 1990.

Why Use Library Databases?

What is a Database?

The Albright College Library offers access to subscription databases. These databases generally give you easy access to magazine, newspaper, and journal articles. Most of these will be "full text" which means you get the complete article. They are called subscription databases because the Library subscribes, or pays money, in order to access them.

Why use a database?

There are advantages to using library research databases compared to the web. Databases are more focused and tailored to meet student's needs. The information tends to be:

Stable--if you found it once you can find it again.
Reliable-most information in databases is based on a print resource and has gone through a review process. Anyone can publish to the web.
Precise--you can refine your search to get close to the material you need. Compare searching 50 articles relevant to your search to 50 million from the Web.

In short, you should use library databases in order to quickly find relevant scholarly information that you can use in research papers or other course projects. We also have several library databases that include music, videos, and art! Take a look and you're sure to find something that relates to you!

Library databases:	Websites:
get their information from professionals or experts in the field.	can be written by anyone regardless of expertise.
contain published works where facts are checked.	content is not necessarily checked by an expert.
are easy to cite in a bibliography and may create the citation for you.	often don't provide the information necessary to create a complete citation.
can help you narrow your topic or suggest related subjects.	often aren't organized to support student research needs.
are updated frequently and include the date of publication.	may not indicate when a page is updated.

Sep 4, 2018

Harlem Renaissance: Finding Articles

Library Databases

Why Use Library Databases?

What is a Database?

Why use a database?

Video: What Are Databases and Why You Need Them