The following databases have different advantages and drawbacks, but I use all of them for literature and history research.
Partially peer reviewed. Some full-text content.
This multidisciplinary database includes subjects like literature, history, art, sociology, psychology, mathematics, communication, and science. Contains ebooks, articles, and journals.
Partially peer reviewed. Full-text content.
Covers the humanities and social sciences, such as literature, theater, art, psychology, business, film studies, and more. Includes access to journals, books, and more.
Partially peer reviewed. No full-text content.
This database focuses on the English language and literature. Provides access to articles in linguistics, literary criticism, folklore, and related topics.
Partially peer reviewed. Some full-text content. Open access.
Google Scholar offers sources across many disciplines and sources, like academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and websites. Results include articles, theses, books, abstracts, court opinions, and more.You can also use OneSearch for historical and other interdisciplinary research.
Partially peer reviewed. Some full-text content. Videos. Audio Recordings.
OneSearch is the default search on the Fulton Library’s homepage. Includes the library’s books and videos, articles from many library databases, and more.
Boolean operators are words or symbols that tell library databases how to search. With Google, you can throw search terms at the search box and trust that Google's search rules and algorithms will take care of things. Library databases need you to type in the search rules along with the topics and subjects you're searching for.
This command tells the database to search for two or more words in article titles, topics, abstracts, and—in the case of JSTOR and Project MUSE—the full text of articles:
Quotation marks are used to tell databases to search for words in a certain order. This is especially useful for finding titles or specific topics that can't be boiled down to a specific word:
Most searching in library databases can be accomplished with AND and quotation marks. But, sometimes, you might need to use these advanced database searching tools to make more nuanced searches.
This tool tells the database to find at least one of two or three words. This tool is the best way to search for synonyms without having to try an entire series of searches:
(Parentheses)OR is often paired with parentheses so you can use multiple searching tools in the same search. OR on its own can often bring back too many results, so the parentheses help keep the database from bringing up off-topic resources:
Like OR, truncation is a great way to find synonyms. In this case, truncation helps you find different variations of a word so you don't have to type in every version of a word that you want the database to look for:
The * lets the database know that you want all words that start with those letters. So, this search would bring up: feminism or feminist. Be careful with this one. If you shorten a word too much (fem*), you'll get unexpected results (like femme fatale).
NOTThis tool helps you remove irrelevant results from your search. For example, if you're searching for information about Jane Eyre and there are a lot of results for the movie adaptations, you can tell the database to avoid them: