Finding Articles in the Databases

Why Use Databases to Find Articles?

Stevenson University students, faculty, and staff have free 24/7 access to premium content found in the library’s research databases.  These databases contain articles from thousands of periodicals (including academic journals, magazines, newspapers, and other serials), as well as ebooks, images, videos, and more.

Databases are a good place to find sources for academic projects because:

• The information comes from reputable, published sources.  Many of the journal articles that you find in databases are peer-reviewed, which is often a requirement for your course projects.
• They have search features and narrowers to make it easier for you to find what you're looking for
• They include information on all different topics, fields, and majors.  Some databases are multidisciplinary, meaning they have information about multiple topics.  Other databases focus on one discipline, such as business, nursing, or history.

This video from the Yavapai College Library gives an overview of what databases are and how they can help:

How is a library database different from Google or Google Scholar?  This video from the La Trobe University Library will explain:

So What's in a Database?

The majority of what you'll find in a library database are articles.  At the college level, most of your research will require academic or scholarly journal articles. What does that mean?

Here are some characteristics of academic or scholarly journal articles:

• They are usually fairly short pieces, often between 1-20 pages long.
• They are written by researchers and professionals who are experts in their field and are intended for other scholars, researchers, faculty, and students.
• They are often trying to find out something new or unexplained in the field.  This is called "original research."
• Journal articles are often reviewed by the authors' peers, who are other experts in the field.
• It can take months or years from the time of the research to the time of publication.
• Language is often formal and technical, using terminology that is sometimes specific to the field of study.
• The author's name and credentials will be present.
• References must be included, indicating where the author obtained the information.

Scholarly articles are often published in journals or periodicals.  Usually multiple articles are published in one issue of a periodical, and several issues of the periodical are published each year.  One year's worth of the periodical is called a volume.