Gingrich Library: FYS 100 -- War and Peace: Finding Articles

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.

Useful Search Terms

Some of these terms may be useful in searching databases. If you combine them, be sure to put parentheses around them and include the word AND.
For example: (peace or peacebuilding) and (war or conflict)

conflict resolution
war or conflict
peace or peacebuilding
conflict management
mediation

Useful General Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
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.

Articles and more
One stop for searching. Find articles, reports, books, and more.

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
An academic version of Google providing a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. Coverage dates vary.
Peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations are available. Google Scholar helps identify the most relevant research across the scholarly world. Google Scholar can be used to search several Albright subsciption databases, e.g., JSTOR, Project Muse, ScienceDirect, etc.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
World's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. Its extensive scope and content provide users with a wealth of extremely useful information encompassing the broad spectrum of sociological study. Coverage: Full text coverage spans from 1904 to present for 777 of the journals, indexing from 1895 to present for other sources
Coverage includes abortion, criminology & criminal justice, demography, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, political sociology, religion, rural & urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse & other addictions, violence and many others.

This short video (2:58) will help you to make the best choice between Google and library databases, depending on what you need.