Library Tutorial 4: Using Research Databases
Quick Tip
You can print, email, and save articles from databases.
Most of the library databases include MLA & APA citations. Find the Cite button, then copy and paste the MLA or APA citation into your Works Cited page.
Scholarly vs Non-Scholarly Resources
Scholarly (peer-reviewed) sources include books and articles published in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, and books.
- These sources are reviewed by a panel of experts in that particular field, and are often published by a professional association or a university press.
- The experts ensure the information published is credible before accepting it for publication.
Non-Scholarly sources include websites, magazines, newspapers, and books that undergo no expert review prior to publishing.
Search the Megasearch
MegaSearch searches all over the PCC Library's materials and resources. It's similar to an online search engine, like Google. And it's a great place to start your search. For more narrow searches specific to writing, subject databases can be helpful. Check out the "Search Databases" box below for subject databases.
- MegaSearch This link opens in a new window
Search dozens of databases and the library catalog. Find articles, books, eBooks, videos, and more. This cross-curricular research database supports science, social studies, current events, and language arts classes. Informed, differing views help learners develop criticalthinking skills and draw their own conclusions.
The "Databases for Writing Topics" tab has databases that may aid in researching your essay topics.
Search Databases
- Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new windowA collection of peer-reviewed, full-text journals for academic research.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowAcademic journals, books, and primary sources as well as current issues of journals in the humanities and social sciences.
- Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new windowMostly scholarly articles and book chapters.
- Literary Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
Literary criticism and author biographies
- Poetry & Short Story Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Full text poems, commentaries & biographies.
- American Decades This link opens in a new windowOverview of the major events and people that helped to share American society throughout the late twenty-first century.
- eHRAF - World Cultures This link opens in a new window"eHRAF World Cultures contains ethnographic collections covering all aspects of cultural and social life. eHRAF is unique in having subject indexing at the paragraph level. This allows detailed and precise searching for concepts not easily found with keywords." -eHRAF
- Gale OneFile: Diversity Studies This link opens in a new window"Explores cultural differences, contributions and influences in the global community."- Gale
- Gale OneFile: News This link opens in a new window"Provides access to more than 2,300 major U.S. regional, national, and local newspapers, as well as leading titles from around the world. It also includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts." -Gale
- Pop Culture Universe This link opens in a new windowAmerican history and popular culture, including fads and entertainment.
- ProQuest News and Newspapers This link opens in a new window"Collection of digitized news content, spanning the latest headlines and developments in contemporary politics, culture, health and technology, to historical coverage of important (and sometimes forgotten) people, places and events dating back to the 1700s." -ProQuest
- Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
Note: Access to this database will no longer be supported as of June 30, 2025. We encourage you to contact your liaison librarian to discuss alternative resources available.
The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
How to Narrow or Expand Your Searches
Video from the John M. Pfau Library
You can use AND, OR, & NOT in order to narrow or expand your searches.
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AND narrows your search by only searching for resources that contain all of the words you're searching for. Example: Flora AND Fauna will return results that have both words.
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OR expands your searches by looking for resources containing both terms. Example: Dreams OR Nightmares will return results containing either word.
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NOT narrows your search by eliminating certain terms from your searches. Example: Dessert NOT Cake will return results with desserts, but not ones that mention cake.
More Search Tips!
Truncation: *
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The asterisk * is a common symbol used to represent any number of letters at the ends of words
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Helps find singulars, plurals, and variant endings of words
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Example: docu* finds documents, document, documentation, documented
Limiters:
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Most databases let you limit search results. Some limiters include:
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Language
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Publication type..such as Peer-Reviewed or Scholarly Journals.
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Date of Publication
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Phrases: " "
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Enclose phrases in quotation marks when searching the Web or most databases
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Phrase searching in individual databases may vary.
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Example: "sanctuary cities"
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Example: "federal government"