How Do I Choose the Best Database?

So many choices!

It's great to start with QuickFIND but researchers often find that a more specialized database is better.

When researching electrical engineering topics, choose our Databases by Subject and you will find many listed such as IEEE Xplore and INSPEC via Engineering Village.

To choose the best database for your topic, keep the following in mind:

What level of information do you need?: Broad coverage, somewhat in-depth, or a highly-specific, scholarly treatment?
From what types of publications do you need articles?: Some options are newspapers, magazines, scholarly peer-reviewed journals, trade journals, theses, conferences and technical reports.
Does your topic come from a specific area of research (subject area)?: The Databases & Electronic Resources page includes a Subject listing.
What dates are relevant for your topic?: Date coverage can vary by database. Check the Coverage column for each Database listing. For dates not covered by an online database, consult with a librarian.

Make sure that you try more than one periodical database since different databases cover different journals, even within the same subject area. Once you begin to see the same citation results over and over, you know you've conducted a thorough search.

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Last modified: Aug 05, 2008, 15:58 EDT