Research Guides: ENGL 1100: Library Databases

Understanding Databases

Choosing a Database

Getting Started with Databases

Databases are vast collections of digitized content, typically articles, streaming videos, and ebooks. If you are new to database research, you can watch the video to the left for a brief introduction. Databases play a huge role in college-level research, as they can contain the content of hundreds or even thousands of scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers. Most databases collect and index materials for only specific areas of study. This subject focus allows researchers to search through a body of articles that relates primarily to their own disciplines and research questions. And because the content of subject-specific databases is so focused, these databases can often contain helpful subject-customized search tools.

At other times, researchers may want a broader picture of what has been written about a given topic, with a sampling of the research being done across a wide range of subject areas. Large multidisciplinary databases can provide students with this broader perspective. ECU Libraries subscribes to numerous multidisciplinary databases. Multidisciplinary databases cover all areas of study, so they can be an excellent place to look for information regardless of your topic. Click on a multidisciplinary database name below to get started, or select a subject tab above to choose a subject-specific database.

Multidisciplinary Databases

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An extensive archive of American and international scholarly journals and books in the humanities, sciences, philosophy, and social sciences.  Provides downloadable PDFs. Content spans 1800 – 2 years ago.
Scopus This link opens in a new window
An extensive, fully searchable, index of abstracts and bibliographic citations from earth sciences, social sciences, technology, medicine, and health. Provides tools to track, analyze, and visualize the impacts of research.
ProQuest Research Companion This link opens in a new window
Cloud-based information literacy tool for student researchers and educators. Aligned both to ACRL Information Literacy and Common Core English Language Arts standards, it provides a framework and foundation for information literacy instruction to help students do more effective scholarly research and to support educators as they teach the core information literacy principles of finding, evaluating, and using information.

Subject-based Research Guides:

Click the button above to be taken to a Guide on the Side tutorial that will teach you how to search in the Humanities International Complete database.

Literature & Language

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An extensive archive of American and international scholarly journals and books in the humanities, sciences, philosophy, and social sciences.  Provides downloadable PDFs. Content spans 1800 – 2 years ago.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Provides bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics and folklore published my the Modern Language Association. Content spans 1926 - Present.
Literature Online (LION) This link opens in a new window
Combines several full-text databases for English, American, and Canadian fiction, poetry, and drama with a wide range of reference resources, including indexing of the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Provides access to complete versions of scholarly journals and books from University Presses and scholarly societies, and scholarly open access content. Topics include: humanities and social sciences.

Philosophy & Religion

ATLA Religion Database This link opens in a new window
Provides information on topics such as biblical studies, biblical archaeology,world religions, church history, and religion in social issues. Covers the research literature of religion in 35 languages. Content spans: 1949 - present
Philosopher's Index This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. Topics include: ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, logic, and metaphysics as well as material on the philosophy of disciplines, such as law, religion, science, history, and education. Content spans 1940 – Present.
Twentieth-Century Religious Thought This link opens in a new window
A collection of seminal works and archival materials related to worldwide religious thought from the early 20th to the 21st century. Provides resources on Christian-Muslim-Jewish relations and key concepts in theology across religions, including Eastern Religions.

Arts & Architecture

Arts & Humanities (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
A collection of full-text scholarly articles from across the humanities. Topics include: art and design, history, philosophy, music, literature, theater, and cultural studies. Designed to complement DAAI, MLA International Bibliography, Philosopher’s Index, and RILM Abstracts. Content spans 1973 – Present.
Humanities International Complete This link opens in a new window
An extensive collection of journals, books and other reference sources in the humanities. Successor to American Humanities Index. Includes deep backfiles for some journals. Content spans 1965 – Present.
Design and Applied Arts Index (DAAI) This link opens in a new window
A fully searchable index of international design and craft journals. Complements Arts & Humanities (ProQuest) database. Content spans 1973 – Present.

Click the button above to be taken to a Guide on the Side tutorial that will teach you how to search in the ABI/INFORM Complete database.