Online Research Tutorial: Choosing the Right Tools: What is a Database?

Choosing the Right Tools - Finding Articles

What is a database?

Databases are tools you can use to search for magazine, journal, and newspaper citations or full-text articles. The RU Library subscribes to MANY databases, and as an RU student most of them are available to you via the Library’s website.

• Use RU databases from off campus. (You will be asked to authenticate using the your NetID username and password (the same you use for email and Blackboard).
• Locate databases through our Online Resources A - Z on the Library homepage.  You can also view the databases that we subscribe to and read descriptions of those databases here: http://libguides.roosevelt.edu/databases.
• If you don’t know what database you want, click on the Research Guides by Subject drop-down menu on the Library homepage. This will give you a list of all our subject guides. Each guide has a page listing databases that are useful for that discipline.

How do you choose a subject area? Think first about the topic of your class (i.e., Psychology if you are in a Psychology class). However, many research topics are interdisciplinary. For instance, if your topic relates to the effect of television violence on children’s school performance, you may want to use databases in Psychology, Education, or Sociology. You may also find specialty categories such as Newspapers or Statistics helpful. Be creative and explore your options by reading the database descriptions the Library provides.

Want to know more about databases?  Scroll down and watch the video before going to the next screen!

You may have heard the term "database" before, but what does that mean?  This video will explain what a library database is.  In the box below the video, you will find a link to a selection of Roosevelt University's article databases...