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ENGL 1302 Mitchell

Assignment #2 Guide

Database Introduction

Click here to find the complete list of online databases available through LSC-CyFair. You will probably find the ones in the Current Issues & News and the Literature section most helpful for this class. 

 

This page has more information about the databases, recommended databases, and helpful tips for using them to find research sources for your response papers, major papers, and research/discussion leading

About the Databases

All databases are available on the library’s webpage: http://www.lonestar.edu/library/16795.htm 

The library licenses over 100 databases, and you have free, 24/7 online access to all of them as long as you are a Lone Star College student.

Databases collect millions of reliable information sources, including: 

  • Entries from reference books (encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc)

  • Peer-reviewed journal articles

  • Magazine articles

  • Newspaper articles

  • eBooks and book chapters

Recommended Databases

We have general databases with information on lots of different subjects (like Academic Search Complete) and subject databases that focus on more specific topics (like Health Reference Center).

 

Databases are arranged by subject, so on the database page, scroll down and open the Current Events & News or the Literature menu to find the databases best suited to the type of research you’re doing in this class. 

 

Which databases should you use in this class? For recommendations, contact Rachel the Librarian at rachel.hugenberg@lonestar.edu or by posting to the Research and Citation Questions discussion board.

Want to get started right away? Try some of our most popular databases:

  • Academic Search Complete - our biggest, most comprehensive database. You'll find newspaper, magazine, and journal articles here. 

  • JSTOR - Full-text back issues of peer-reviewed journals in such areas as arts, history, philosophy, and religion. Try and Advanced Search and check the boxes for Articles and Language & Literature to refine your search results. 

  • Project Muse - Full-text journals in a variety of academic disciplines.
  • Newspaper Source Plus - contains full text from national and international newspapers, plus news transcripts.

  • Example searches (if you use Basic search, you must type AND - click here for instructions on how to search the LSC-CyFair Library databases):

    "falling man" AND image

    "falling man" AND photograph

    "coca-cola" AND advertisement

Why use a Database?

Why use a database when you could just Google? Plenty of reasons:

  • You can trust the information you find in the databases. No one can post online to a database the way they can create websites and blogs, so you're only finding published, vetted sources from reliable publishers in the databases.

  • Access to more content. Sometimes you might run across a "pay wall" on the web: the article or publisher wants you to pay for the article. The library pays for databases so you don't have to! So many times you can find the source for free through the library, but not through Google. This is especially true of scholarly journal articles.

Helpful user features. Most of our online databases have features for automatic citation, emailing sources to yourself, online bookmarking, and more. 

Subjects: English