Friday, April 20, 2012

Databases



Databases are a great source for finding electronic resources on almost any subject area.  The two most common types of databases are bibliographic and full-text.  Bibliographic databases contain citations, abstracts, or document summaries that are searchable by keywords, author, title, or subject.  Full-text databases contain full articles from a selection of journal titles.  Databases usually offer several different methods of searching, for example, a basic search or advanced search where limiters can be set to find more accurate information. 
One of the most popular types of databases searches is Boolean searching.  This method allows the search to be very specific and include or eliminate specific search terms.  The Boolean operators used for searching are: AND, OR, NOT.  AND is used to combine and limit search terms, the results from this type of search should contain all search terms.  OR is used to broaden a search and retrieve more information.  NOT is used to exclude specific terms, which eliminates any items found including that specific term. 
For more information on databases and Boolean searching check out the two links below:

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