Database Tools and Searching Tips

A database is a collection of resources grouped by discipline, subject, material type, or sometimes just by the vendor that owns them. Databases let the user find more specific, relevant resources more effectively than using other searching options.

When deciding where to go for doing research, it may help to think of information sources like a funnel. 

1. A traditional search engine like Google or Bing is the widest part of the funnel. Running a search here returns a lot of results, most of which are not scholarly/academic sources. 
2. Using the basic search option on the library's website is the second step in the funnel. While the results you get are more likely to be scholarly/academic, the inability to customize your search means you still wind up with an overwhelming number of results.
3. The library website's advanced search is the third step in the funnel. Advanced searching allows the user to narrow down the types of results a search will return right away, which filters out irrelevant results. Learn more about advanced searching on the effective searching tips page of this guide. 
4. Databases are the narrowest part of the funnel. Because the library website search pulls from most of the databases VCSU subscribes to, searching a single database will always provide fewer, more specific results. When the smaller resource pool is combined with more in-depth search building and filtering, the results are more relevant and easier to look through. 

There are a few ways to find and choose databases at VCSU.

Check out our A-Z Databases list to see all of the databases we have. This option works well if you know the name of the database you want to use. There is also a search function that you can use to narrow down the databases by subject, type, or vendor. 

The Research Guides page of the library website has guides built for all sorts of subjects. Choose the subject guide that makes the most sense for your research, go to the "find sources" section, and look at the databases listed there.

If you're stuck, Hannah can help you out!

Databases use keywords for searching. When using a database, don't type in a full sentence, instead, pick the most important words from your question or topic and use those to search. 

Some databases have a set of terms they use for different subjects. These terms can be viewed by going to the database’s thesaurus. If you are having difficulty finding the resources you need in a database, try looking up your keywords in the thesaurus. These thesauri have different names based on the database.

EBSCO databases typically use “subject terms” or “thesaurus”

Gale databases typically use “subject guide search” or “topic finder.”

Databases make it easy to keep track of what you read by providing a variety of ways to save sources. You can save sources to your Google Drive or your OneDrive. You can also email sources to yourself, print them, or copy the citations and permalinks into a document for later.