Finding Articles

Using Databases to Find Articles

A database is a collection of organized data that can be used to quickly retrieve information. Most databases owned by the University Libraries are electronic periodical indexes of citations, abstracts, or full-text periodical articles from thousands of magazines, journals, newspapers, historical documents, or other literary works.

The University Libraries subscribe to over 200 databases and electronic information products. Several of the most frequently used general databases are LexisNexis Academic, ABI/Inform Global , and EBSCOhost MasterFILE Premier. These databases contain some full-text articles or citations to articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers. However, these are only a handful of the databases you have access to through the University Libraries. To identify a database in your field of study go to the UB Libraries Resources by Subject page where you can find subject-specific databases recommended by UB librarians.

Example of a Database Search

When using periodical databases you will notice they have different interfaces. However, most databases possess common basic search characteristics.

The first step to using any UB database is to choose the one that suits your needs using either Databases by Title or Resources by Subject. EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier is used as an example.

Clicking on the database link takes you to the database main menu and search screen . All databases have a main menu and a query box where you type in keywords and search terms. Another common characteristic of databases are the various options that let you "limit" your search. Common limiting features include:

Limit by date
Limit to a particular journal
Limit by title of article
Limit by author(s) of article
Limit to peer-reviewed or scholarly journals

Using the topic "The My Lai Massacre of 1968 and its Impact on U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War," you may want to formulate your keyword search as shown in the following example:

You may also want to limit your search. Often you may be asked to find "scholarly" or peer reviewed information. Checking the "Scholarly(Peer Reviewed) Journals" option will limit your search results.

Once the database retrieves your search results look for a PDF full-text link to print the full-text of the article. Also check for a Findit@UB icon. Clicking this icon may find the full-text of your article.

Certain databases may only be partial full-text or offer only the citations. This does not mean you cannot access the full-text of the article. Because of the varying number of periodicals indexed by different databases, it is suggested that you use Electronic Journals to determine if you can find the full-text of the article you are looking for. Electronic Journals will allow you to search the Libraries Electronic Journal Holdings by the title of the journal you are looking for.

If you cannot find the full-text of the article via searching Electronic Journals then search for the print version of the journal using BISON. The following section Finding Print Journals offers instructions for finding the print version of a journal.