Transcript: Lauren

I have found using a collection of different databases and search engines to be an extremely useful resource when searching for sources for my homework or essay. This is because different databases and search engines will often bring up different articles, even when using the same search terms. This can especially be true when using a database specialized for a specific topic because it will be more limited to articles about the same or similar subjects.

For example, I recently was working on a school project where I needed articles about the effect of a species on the ecosystem. Using this strategy, I was able to find an article on how different species could affect the carbon cycle in tropical forests. However, the article was not available through EBSCOhost which I usually use, I found it through Web of Science and Google scholar.

This is even easier if you can use a university library because they have access to multiple different databases on the same or different topics.

As well as having access to different articles and materials, databases also usually have an advanced search with many useful tools that have made it easier to narrow down the number of articles in my searches. These include multiple search bars that can be used for the article title, the author’s name, or even Boolean search terms. They also often have drop down menus or checkboxes for publication years, peer reviewed articles, or only full text articles.

Even once I have found an article, databases sometimes have useful tools such as quick links to other articles that use it as a citation, articles that it uses as citations, and even different versions of citations for the article like MLA or APA. It made the research part of my project much quicker, especially since I did not have to spend as much time trying to make the citations for each resource I used myself.