Searching in Google is just the tip of the Iceberg.
Google searches often don't produce the BEST sites, just the QUICKEST TO FIND.
Why are databases useful?
- Magazine, newspaper, book, and journal articles, radio and TV transcripts.
- Designed for students and researchers.
- Specific to certain subjects.
- Written by experts or journalists (who interview experts).
- More scholarly. Colleges EXPECT that you will know how to use these.
- More reliable.
Beneath the surface...
Databases provide the following:
There's a whole world of information.
Books: Print books, ebooks, and audiobooks from our Library catalogs.
Web: Find better results using advanced methods. There are books in Google too!
Databases: Find articles from books, magazines, and other sources through the
Library's website, that you can't get by searching Google.
- Results sorted by RELEVANCY or DATE.
You can switch this.
- Search within your results.
- Choose the format.
- Email/print-friendly options.
- Translation and text-to-speech options.
- Fully-formatted citations to copy and paste.
How do I get to them?
- They are NOT free. The Library has a subscription to them.
- Some need this login and password outside of school: montytech1.
- You need to go to the Library's website to get to them.
http://montytech.net
How is searching a database different
from Google?
- Databases search titles, authors, summaries, and subjects of thousands of articles.
- Google searches through the entire text of millions of pages.
This is why a database search produces fewer results.
- The less and more specific keywords you search, the better.
- If one keyword does not work, use one that is similar in meaning.
- Avoid punctuation and special characters.