What are Research Databases?
| Buswell Library provides specialized databases that serve the following purposes: |
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...to enable you to find citations of journal articles, book reviews, chapters in books, essays, and other documents not usually listed in library catalogs. Some databases provide citations only; others also provide full text. Records in these databases are fully indexed by author, title, subject headings, etc., and thus these databases provide powerful searchability. Most provide near-comprehensive coverage of documents published in a particular discipline.
Examples of databases in this group are PsycINFO and ATLA Religion Index.
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...to provide you with an online archive of the full text of selected journal articles. Articles may or may not be indexed by author, title, subject headings, etc., but the database may be full-text searchable. Keep in mind that databases in this group usually cover a much narrower range of sources than do databases described under #1 above.
Examples of databases in this second group are Project Muse and JSTOR.
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...to provide you with an online version of a book or books. Searchability ranges from minimal to sophisticated, depending upon the database.
Examples of databases in this group are the Oxford English Dictionary and NetLibrary.
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What's the difference between a research database and a Web site?
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Although most research databases are delivered through the Web (some are on CD ROM instead), these databases are not freely available Web sites. They are part of the "invisible Web" not accessible through standard search engines like Google. The Library pays for access to these databases in behalf of the Wheaton College community and for this reason they are accessible only within the campus network. If you wish to use these resources from a computer off campus you will need to set up your browser to use the campus proxy server.
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