Identity and Social Justice: Basic Research

Reach out to a librarian if you have any questions about finding information in the library databases. Use the Ask-a-Librarian button at the left, or check beneath my profile pic below to see if I'm online for a Chat or feel free to reach out to me via email as well! I'm happy to help!

 A database is a collection of online information resources - articles, films, images, data, statistics, etc. Western Library databases provide articles from newspapers, magazines, trade journals, scholarly journals, books, and streaming video on a wide variety of subjects.

Databases are subscriptions purchased by both college and public libraries, and made freely available to students and the general public with a student ID or public library card.

Western Library has both multiple-topic databases and subject-specific databases, like Western's business databases.Subject-specific databases contain detailed information within a specific subject area. For example, business databases contain information about industries, companies, and other business-related topics and cover a wide range of information including  histories and historical context, articles, case studies, reports, rankings, profiles charts, financial data, statistics, legal issues and more.

Library databases save you time and energy! They contain vetted, fact-checked, and credible information created by trustworthy professionals and experts. Since anyone can publish anything on a website you'd find Google, and it can be difficult to find credible information suitable for a research project. Sometimes you do need to rely on Google, the website of a company you are researching will provide important information for you project.

Using Library Databases

You will notice similarities among databases. Most EBSCO databases look and function identically, as do most Gale databases, and most ProQuest databases.

Database Filters and Tools 

All databases have the following features:

• Tools - search boxes (basic, advanced), cite tools, a way to email, send, or share, a list of source types related to a search (number of academic journals, magazines, newspapers, videos, etc), a print tool, permalink.
• Filters. Often a search results in hundred or thousands of articles. Use the Filters to narrow your results
  • Full Text - check third filter to show only titles that also have complete articles, rather than just a summary.
  • Date or date range filters - these may refer to publication or copyright dates. 
  • Source Type: use this filter to choose the what type of article you want to see -  newspaper, magazine, academic journal, etc. Filter out the source types you don't want to see. For example,for a research project you may need a scholarly article from an academic journal. By checking the Academic Journal box or link, you will be shown only scholarly articles.
  • Filters will be located on ether the left, right, ot top of the page, depending on the database.

Watch the video below for a demonstration of how to use Western Library Databases.