What Is an Article Database?

Age : 45 Joined : 08 Mar 2008 Posts : 1850

Article databases are used to find articles published in magazines, journals or newspapers. They contain article references and full text articles on specific topics. Article databases are also known as periodical indexes, abstracts, databases or full text databases.

Article references are also known as sources, citations or bibliographic citations. Article references tell you where the article was originally published. They include the

title of the article
author
title of the magazine, journal or newspaper where the article is located
date of publication
page numbers
sometimes an abstract or summary of the article
Choosing an Article Database
There are many article databases, abstracts and periodical indexes from which to choose. Each database or index covers a specific group of magazines, journals and/or newspapers. For example Art Full Text provides article references to magazine and journal articles about art and art history. Other article databases such as the CQ Researcher and Ebsco's Academic Search Premier are general and cover many subjects. Use the article database listings on your library's home page to select a database on your topic.

TIP: Think ahead. If you need scholarly articles, select a database that covers scholarly journals. Save time by asking librarians to suggest the best databases for your research topic.

Article Database Vendors and Database Titles

There is a distinction between a database and a database vendor. A vendor is a commercial company that provides access to several databases for a fee. EBSCOhost, for example, provides libraries with access to a long list of databases but is not a database itself. Other prominent database vendors or providers include ProQuest, Gale and WilsonWeb."

What Are Full Text Databases?

Full text databases provide links to the complete article online. Full text article databases are very useful and can save students time. Even in a full text database, there will be some article references that do NOT have links to the complete article.

How To Access Article Databases

On campus: Most article databases are readily available from the library's Web site.

Off campus: Article databases purchased by your library are ONLY available off campus through a home or remote access service to students, faculty and staff of your academic institution. This usually requires a password. Carefully follow the instructions on your library's home page and call reference librarians with ANY questions.