Performance & Communication Arts: Selecting a Database

Selecting Which Library Databases to Search

Choosing the best database to search is often a challenge. Here are
some questions to consider when choosing which databases to search:

What Topics Are Covered?
Is it a specialized database
covering a specific subject - e.g. anthropology, literature, education,
gender studies? or does it provide more general coverage?

What Kinds of Documents Are Indexed?
• Journals, magazines, books, book chapters, dissertations, images, government documents, statistical data, sounds files?
• Scholarly, popular - or both?

What Time Periods?
1997-present? Or all the way back into the 1800's?

What Is the Overall Scope of the Database?
Some of the
libraries' databases (e.g. Academic Search Complete, JSTOR) provide
citations from thousands of journals while others cover just a handful
of journals (e.g. AnthroSource).

Database Coverage