Academic Databases
You may view a current list of all databases and access them directly here. The databases listed are updated on a weekly basis.
Why use academic databases?
Academic databases provide high quality information that is mainly peer reviewed. All LYIT databases are evaluated by academic staff to ensure that the information they provide is of high quality and that they will be a useful resource for you when researching your assignments, projects and thesis.
Scholarly Research by Vanessa Slagel (Garofalo)
Unabridged version of this video by Vanessa Slagel (Garofalo) is available here
Tips for Searching Databases
Strategies for searching databases
Planning is necessary for any search. Do some advance work with a thesaurus and list a number of relevant search terms.
Most databases treat keywords as potential parts of words e.g.
music would also find musician and music downloads
Keep your search broad; initially using a keyword if possible. If you've got too many results make the search more specific by adding words e.g.
music and downloads
or specify terms you do not want to see e.g.
music not awards
If you get very few search results broaden your search by using a number of terms e.g.
music downloads or iTunes
Wildcards
Wildcards retrieve:
variant spellings of words e.g.
colo* would find color (American spelling), colour, colours
and words with common roots e.g.
psycholo* would find psychological, psychologist, psychologists