LIBRARY TUTORIAL 1: INTRODUCTION TO OUR DATABASES
The first thing you should know
about our databases is that the
material within them is not
accessible through the open web.
They are a sort of ‘invisible web’ to
which only SJU students have
access. Large search engines on
the open web are accessible to
anyone who wants to search them.
However, we provide access to
many resources that are protected
behind our Library’s site, and that
are only accessible to students
with an SJU username and
password. Think of our site as an
‘invisible web’ behind the ‘open
web’. Within that invisible web,
you will find access to many things
that aren’t available to you on the
open web.
I found this article online, for
instance, and would like to use it for
my research paper. I can buy it
from the site for $25.00.
If, though, I come through the
Library’s databases and do a search
there, I can access the same article
for free.
The second important thing
you need to know about our
databases is the types of
resources they have to offer.
First and foremost, the
databases have scholarly
articles within them. These
are written by experts within
a given field, for other experts
within the same field, and are
usually very narrow in scope,
often dealing with specific
population or geographic
region. These types of
materials will always have an
extensive bibliography or
works cited page at the end of
the article, as well as citations
within the text of the article.
Here’s an example of a
scholarly article accessible
through the library. This is a
scholarly article that comes
from the journal Journal of
School Health. I can see
that the article is very
particular in scope, dealing
with a specific population. I
can see that the author is an
expert, with a phd.
If I scroll down to
the bottom of the
page, I can see the
really big
indication that this
is a scholarly
work: a very
extensive list of
references that
the author refers
to in the text.
Many of your professors will ask you to find scholarly articles for your papers, and you will be expected to depend mostly on
scholarly rather than popular material. Sometimes these articles are referred to as ‘academic’ or ‘peer-reviewed’ (peerreviewed meaning it was reviewed by other experts within the field before publication). These all refer to the same types of
articles.
The other main type of
material we have
through the library are
popular materials:
things like newspaper,
magazine, and
newsletter articles.
They do a better job at
reporting current
events than scholarly
material, but they are
usually written by
reporters who are just
following the most
popular new trends, as
opposed to
researchers who know
a topic in-depth. They
often don’t cite their
sources.
This article from
Newsweek, for
instance, has a catchy
title and offers some
interesting
information, but the
author doesn’t cite her
sources at all with a
bibliography or works
cited page.
The last type of
material you should
know about are things
that are reputable but
don’t necessarily
come from scholarly
journal articles – this
can include
conference
proceedings,
independently
published reports,
government reports,
etc. These also might
show up in your
results list as you’re
searching within our
databases.
The last thing I’d like to point out about the databases is that there are some that are full-text, others that are not. This
means that some will link you directly into the text, or, for instance, the article within the database.
In such cases, if a pdf
version of the document is
offered, this is the best
choice to make. A pdf will
basically give you a
scanned copy of the
original version, meaning it
preserves original page
numbers, as well as the
same look and feel of
original tables and images.
Your other option would
be an html version of the
document--
--which just gives
you the text of
the original
document,
without
preserving the
look and feel of
the original
publication,
meaning original
tables, pictures
and page
numbers won’t
be the same.
Some items in our databases, however, are only indexed, meaning the database will give you a title, the publication
information, and sometimes an abstract of the document, without providing the full-text of the document.
Most of our databases will be a mix of full-text and non-full-text material. The next tutorial will teach you how to find the
full-text of a document that is not full-text within the database you’re searching.