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Research Survival Guide: Scholarly Research - Databases

This guide will help you learn how to conduct college-level research for your classes.

Why Should I use Databases for My Research?

Librarians will most likely point you to databases for your academic research. Libraries pay money to subscribe to databases so that students can access full-text access to scholarly materials. Databases are organized, searchable collections of scholarly materials. Library databases provide you with multiple advantages over Google, Google Scholar, and other internet search tools:

  • Provide credible content through peer-reviewed publications.
  • Allow less time for searching by having multiple ways to narrow down results.
  • Provide better information than a general Google search.

Watch this video by the Yavapai College Library to understand what databases are and why you need them to conduct research for your papers.

What do Library Databases Contain?

The Madonna Library subscribes to a large number of databases that you can log in to and find scholarly materials that aren’t freely available to the public.

  • Find databases by Alphabetical order or find databases By Subject if you have a specific academic area that you are researching in.
  • Look at our Resource Guides, where we collect all of the databases, journals, books, and websites that are relevant to a specific academic field.

You can also use our catalog to find books related to your topic.