Information Literacy: What is a Database? & Selecting a Database

 What is a Database? 

• A research database is an organized collection of records for citations. Depending on the specific database, the citations come from newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, technical reports, conference proceedings, book chapters and much more. 
• Each  record in a database is composed of information for a particular item (a book, an article).
• Each record is composed of a set of fields, such as title, author, source, and subject headings.

Selecting a Database 

Selecting the best research database for your topic is an important step. You need to choose a database that covers your topic, as well as the dates you need.

To choose a research database on the Carl S. Swisher Library Home Page:

• Go to the Search Databases link and choose the most appropriate subject area or type of information needed.
• Skim the list of databases, reading about each one to learn: 
  1. Subjects covered
  2. Types of publications covered: journal articles, books, etc.
  3. Dates covered