Now that you’ve started to get a clearer
understanding of the aspects and subtopics
related to your chosen research topic
from your searches of the
Purdue Libraries’ catalog,
you may want to narrow the scope of your
queries to focus on smaller, more subject
specific collections of materials
that will help you directly focus on your topic.
This video will provide a brief introduction
to how to choose a relevant database
to search for sources
related to your research topic.
The Purdue Libraries provides access to many
different kinds of materials, such as books,
articles, data, and more that you can bring
together to make an argument
and use in your research.
While it may help you develop a
broad understanding of your selected topic
by searching Libraries’ entire collection,
you may eventually want to modify
your searches and the resources you look to
as you get deeper into the research process.
As you continue to learn more about a topic,
you may want to apply your search queries
to databases,
or organized collections of articles, data, books,
and more that often are subject-oriented.
Modifying your research strategy in this way
can help you tune your attention towards
the sources that provide more details about
your topic
and will help you continue
to advance your understanding of it.
But, how do you know which database
to search?
The Purdue Libraries’ catalog provides
a useful way for you to
find and begin searching
these subject specific databases.
From the Libraries’ main webpage at
lib.purdue.edu,
you can select "Databases."
This brings you to an alphabetical list of
databases you can search within
for your research topic.
This is where the filter feature comes in handy.
The filter feature allows you to remove
all irrelevant databases
and get closer to a database that is
better aligned with your research
topic or discipline.
You can do this in several ways.
The most efficient and effective way is
to select a subject from the All Subjects
drop-down menu.
For information about Frankenstein,
you may want to select Arts & Humanities.
From here, you can see that you have many
available databases to search.
You can begin scrolling through the list of
databases,
or you can further refine your scope
by specifying what kind of database
you want to use.
But, it is important to note that a
research topic may involve
different disciplines or areas of research.
The broad research topic of Frankenstein and
science
may also have relevant sources
housed in science databases.
Consider the different subjects that are involved
in your topic
and explore which databases you may need
to look to address these different subjects.
If you are early in the research process,
you may want to explore reference databases
to help you orient to your topic
and to locate additional citations that
you can explore on the topic.
Other options for database type include
statistics & data,
e-books, and images.
Once you select an option
from the type drop-down menu,
you now have a smaller number of
reference databases specific to the
arts and humanities to choose from.
Each list of database results includes the
contact information of the librarian who can
help with your research.
You can reach out to them at any point
in the research process for help.
The librarians have conveniently identified
the “best bet” databases, which are likely
going to help you find the information
you need on any research topic.
Toward the bottom of each page is a list
of library research guides that can also help
you find commonly used databases
for a particular discipline.
In addition to the filter feature,
you can also reference these guides to help
you select a few databases to begin searching.
To begin exploring a database,
click on the title of the database,
and begin searching.
Nearly all databases will allow for
keyword searches using either a simple or
advanced search option.
Many databases offer suggestions of
keywords to employ as you search
for a given topic.
You can also make use of filters,
which will help you reduce the number of
results from a query based on different criteria,
such as a date range,
whether something has been through the
peer-review process,
the material type, language, and more.
For more information on how to search for
materials on a research topic,
see the video
“Searching for Materials at the Purdue Libraries.”
This short video introduced strategies
for selecting a relevant database for
a research need.
You can use the Libraries’ filter feature
to narrow in on a subject and type of database,
or you can look to library research guides
for suggestions of common
databases within a discipline.
For additional help selecting or
using a database for a research project,
please visit the Purdue Libraries’
Ask a Librarian page at
www.lib.purdue.edu/help/askalib.