Tips for Database Searching
Searching in databases is a bit different from searching in Google Scholar.
Tip 1: Search with words, not ideas.
Any time you are searching a database, try to think flexibly about possible words to use for the search. Think about all the ways that an idea could be described, and make a list:
ex: domestic violence, intimate partner violence, interventions, treatment, education, support, etc.
Tip 2: Combine search words with AND
Use AND to combine different ideas that you wish to find in the same article:
ex: parents and education and autism
Tip 3: Use quotes when searching for exact phrases
Using quotes around phrases instructs the database to search for the exact words in the phrase, in that exact order. It's a good way to get specific.
ex: "Trauma informed practices" or "early childhood education"
Where to Search
- Family and Society Studies Worldwide This link opens in a new window
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Indexes articles in magazines, journals, books, and more in the areas of family science, human ecology, health, and human development. - Education Source This link opens in a new window
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This database covers key areas of education and related fields of study. It's a great place to look for information on early childhood education, special education and similar topics. - Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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This database indexes the world's scholarly literature in sociology and related disciplines. It is an excellent choice for researchers investigating social aspects of human services. - Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Indexes research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Coverage includes journal articles and dissertations. - Videatives This link opens in a new windowA streaming service of short video clips demonstrating scenarios in child development and education.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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This multidisciplinary database covers a wide variety of resources and is a great alternative to Google Scholar.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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This database indexes the world's scholarly literature in sociology and related disciplines. It is an excellent choice for researchers investigating social aspects of human services and families. - Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts (ASSIA) This link opens in a new window
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This database covers literature related to health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations, and education. It provides a comprehensive source of social science and health information for the practical and academic professional. - Social Services Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Indexes research focused on social work, human services, and related areas, including social welfare, social policy, and community development. Coverage includes journal articles and dissertations. - Criminal Justice Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Includes abstracts of current books, book chapters, journal articles, government reports, and dissertations published worldwide related to criminal justice and criminology.
- ERIC [EBSCOhost] This link opens in a new window
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ERIC is the premier U.S. national bibliographic database of education literature, covering published journal articles as well as non-periodical, document literature (such as master's theses and ERIC digests). ERIC documents published prior to 1966 are available on microfiche in the Microforms area on the lower level of the Library. - Educational Administration Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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Covers areas related to educational administration, including educational leadership, educational management, educational research and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. - Sports Medicine and Education Index This link opens in a new window
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This database indexes the literature of physical education including peer-reviewed journals, reports, conference proceedings, trade magazines and articles from the popular press. This is an excellent database for topics such as motor learning, recreation, standardized fitness tests, coaching and sport psychology. - Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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This database is an excellent choice for research on language and literacy topics such as reading instruction, language acquisition, phonological awareness and related topics.
- APA PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
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This database indexes articles in psychology journals, chapters in books, dissertations and other psychology resources. This database is an excellent choice for topics relating to counseling, special education, student motivation etc. - PsychiatryOnline Premium This link opens in a new windowThis database contains a collection of textbooks, journals, DSM-5 and key resources in diagnosis, treatment, and research. The DSM Library contains past editions of the DSM as well as clinical cases and Handbook of Differential Diagnosis.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowA database of the newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press. It is a collection of more than 700,000 full-text articles from over 200 publications.
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
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Indexes international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports and conference proceedings devoted to women’s and gender issues. - Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
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This database covers the core disciplines in Women’s Studies to the latest scholarship in feminist research. - Archives of Sexuality and Gender This link opens in a new windowOffers a collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender.
- Women's Studies Archive This link opens in a new windowThis database focuses on the social, political and professional achievements of women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
- Race Relations Abstracts This link opens in a new window
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This database covers key areas related to race relations, including ethnic studies, discrimination, immigration studies, and other areas.
- HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new windowCovers U.S. Government, Politics & Law. Provides comprehensive coverage of U.S. statutory materials, U.S. Congressional publications, and more than 2,400 scholarly journals. Also has subject specialized databases, such as, Gun Regulation and Legislation in America.
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new window
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Database coverage includes journals, books, and reports from governments in the subject areas of public and social policy. - CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowThe CQ Researcher Plus Archive explores a single “hot” issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology.
- Health and Medicine This link opens in a new window
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Health and wellness research designed especially for the layperson. It contains indexing to medical journals and consumer health magazines. - Cochrane Library This link opens in a new windowRegularly updated collection of evidence-based medicine databases.
- PubMed This link opens in a new window
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PubMed comprises more than 26 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books - PsychiatryOnline Premium This link opens in a new windowThis online library provides access to the DSM-V as well as a collection of eBooks, textbooks, and journals produced by the American Psychiatric Association.
- PTSDpubs This link opens in a new window
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Published International Literature on Traumatic Stress (PILOTS) includes citations to all literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health disturbances resulting from traumatic events, without disciplinary, linguistic, or geographical limitations.
- ABI/INFORM This link opens in a new window
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Includes coverage for over 2,860 publications, many available in full text. - Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
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Provides full text for more than 2,300 journals all disciplines of business—accounting, marketing, management, MIS, finance and economics. - Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text information from newspapers, the legal literature, Accounting and other sources on a variety of topics.