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Databases / E-Journals

A - Z Databases

Find magazine / journal articles for your research. You can search the databases for full text articles. If you are OFF CAMPUS you will have to have your DRURY email account password and login.

If you don't know where to start and have a subject in mind you can browse the subject  LibGuides. They offer help with databases and other resources by subject area.

For subject specific help contact one of our librarians,

Katherine Bohnenkamper - LIB 126
Biology, Communication, Education, Environmental Studies, Physics
873-7485
kbohnenk@drury.edu

William Garvin - LIB 008
English, Music, Language, History, Political Science
873-7482
wgarvin@drury.edu

Phyllis Holzenberg - LIB 116
Interdisciplinary Studies, Women's Studies, Theatre, Library
873-7487
pholzenb@drury.edu

Craig Smith - LIB 103
Business Administration, Economics, Exercise & Sport Science, Behavioral Sciences: Criminology, Psychology, Sociology, Math, Computer Science, Reference, News
873-7339
csmith@drury.edu

Jacque Tygart - LIB 012
Architecture, Art & Art History, Philosophy, Religion
873-7496
jtygart@drury.edu

For some people, this is the most difficult aspect of using libraries. Yet, journals (also called 'periodicals' or 'serials') contain such recent, in-depth information that it's important to learn how to use them. Besides, your instructors will often want you to find information about very recent research that is published in journal articles.

What you should know about journals
How can I find journal articles on my topic?
What are indexing databases and print indexes?
Where can I find these databases and print indexes?
Which database should I choose for this topic?
How do I search databases and CDROMs?
How can I find out if the journal is in the library?
Helpful hints for database searching

What you should know about journals

The articles that you find in 'journals' are generally more in-depth and well researched than those you read in popular 'magazines' like People or Personal Computing. However, like them, they are published regularly - either weekly, monthly, once every 3 months or 6 months etc. Examples of journals are Harvard Business Review, New Scientist and Ceramics Monthly.

On the cover of each journal issue you may find an issue number, the year and/or a date, as well as a volume number.

If your instructor wants you to read a specific journal article they will give you a reference similar to this:

Brockman, H. J. 2006, 'Why are animals so honest?', Bioscience, vol.56, no.10, p.849 - 851.

To find this, you must first identify the title of the journal. This appears just before the volume (vol.), issue (no.) and page numbers (p.).

You would then go to your library catalog to find the shelf number of the journal. Catalogs only list journals by their title (e.g. Bioscience), so choose a Title search from the options and type the exact title of the journal. If your library has a separate Journals (or Periodicals) catalog, choose this option.

Most libraries keep current journal issues loose on the shelves, while the older issues of past volumes may be bound together in hard covers, filed by their year. Many journals are also online and the catalog will show this and allow you to link to them directly.

How can I find journal articles on my topic?

If you browse through journals trying to find an article on a very specific topic, it will take you a long time. Which journal to choose? Which year?

To make life easier, there are journal or periodical indexes that you can search with your topic's keywords. Most indexes are published as online databases, although some libraries may still have some in CD-ROM or in print format.

What are indexing databases or print indexes?

• These are huge lists of journal references which are kept very current as new journal articles are published and new references are constantly added. Originally, indexes were published regularly in print, but now we search them as online databases.
• Indexes can cover one subject area or many. For example, Business Source Premier indexes only business journals; ACS Web Editions covers journals published by the American Chemical Society and Academic Search Premier and JSTOR cover journals in many subject areas and are 'multidisciplinary'.

• Searching a journal indexing database with topic keywords gives you a list of journal articles on the topic and a summary ('abstract') of each article. Then, you decide which articles you want to find and read.

• 'Full text' databases provide the whole article as well. They usually provide the full text of around 50% or more of the articles they list. Examples are Jstor, Business Source Premier, Project Muse and Academic Search Premier.


• If the full article is not in the database you are searching, you must check if your library holds the journal by searching the library catalog (by the journal title, remember?). Sadly, not all the articles listed in a database will be held by your library. If there is a link to Other Drury DB try that; this takes you to any other databases Drury subscribes to that might have that article. You can also search Journal Search to see if Drury has a particular journal either in print or electronic format.

Where can I find these databases and print indexes?

• Print journal indexes are usually found in libraries' Reference Collections, although most libraries now buy online databases.
• You can find Drury Library's online databases from our home page. Choose the All Databases link or choose one of the 4 top databases.
• Drury students and staff can access most databases from any computer with Internet access. There are internet computers in the Drury Library and in labs across campus, but many students access them from home.

  IMPORTANT: Because libraries must buy these databases and sign licenses, access to Drury's databases is only available to its own staff and students. You must have your Drury ID number and password - this is the same as your Drury Email Account.

Which database should I choose for my topic?

This is a common question as there are so many databases. Here are some tips:

• First, choose a multidisciplinary, full text database like Jstor or Academic Search Premier. If you don't find enough articles, you may have to search a subject-based database.
• Contact a subject Librarian (see the side box) or  check out the LibGuides by subject. These list subject areas and have databases and WWW resources.
• Look for the names of databases mentioned in course outlines guides. Your instructors may also suggest relevant databases.
• Librarians can suggest databases for your topic or thesis. Drury students can contact us by email, phone or in person.

Reference Desk
Phone: (417) 873-7337
email: csmith@drury.edu

How do I search the database for articles on my topic?

• First, look at your topic for its main concepts. For example, if your topic is
  

  "Discuss the impact of global warming on our oceans"

  your main concepts are 'global warming' and 'oceans'.
• Decide on the keywords you will use as search terms. For this topic your keywords or phrases could include:

   

  global warming	oceans	Atlantic
  greenhouse effect	Artic	Pacific

• Understand Boolean logic.
  In indexing databases, the words AND, OR and NOT have special functions when they are used between search terms. Our database search could be typed like this:

  global warming and oceans

  or, for even more references:

  (global warming or greenhouse effect) and oceans and artic

• Keep your search simple!

How can I find out if the journal is in the library?

If the database only gives you a reference to a journal article, not the full text, you will need to check the library catalog for the journal.

• Look at the reference and work out the title of the journal, the volume, year and pages of the article.
• Search your library catalog by the journal Title or search Journal Search to see if the library has it in print or in one of the databases.
• Always check the Holdings message to see if the library holds the year and/or the volume of the journal you need.


• In some Drury databases you may see Other Drury DB icon. Clicking on this will link you to the library catalog or to another database with the full article.

Helpful hints for database searching

If you don't find any references on your topic, ask yourself:

• Is my spelling correct?. Remember, British and American spelling is different: e.g. use both "colour OR color" in a search.
• Is this the best database for my topic? Librarians can help you.
• Have I typed in a whole sentence, rather than keywords with AND or OR as linking terms?
• Is my topic too recent for a database search? Journal databases may take a while to index the articles. Perhaps a newspaper article would be best?
• Have I narrowed my search too far using ANDs: e.g.
  "ergonomics and office and equipment and United States"

If you don't find any useful references on your topic, ask yourself :

• Have I used OR (for 'either/or') when I should have used AND (for 'as well as') e.g."greenhouse effect or united states" instead of "greenhouse effect and united states?
• Are your terms too broad: e.g. 'transport' rather than 'railways'? Begin with very specific terms and broaden them if you need to.
• Check a Thesaurus or the online Index for the database. This lists all the subject headings used by the database to categorise articles; e.g. an education database uses "elementary education" rather than the term "secondary education" to describe articles about high-schools.

HUGE HINT: Always check the database's Help for search suggestions. Each database is slightly different.