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Tutorial: Food Stories

A class guide for the tutorial class "Food for Thought"

Why are there so many Databases?

Many students do not understand why the library provides so many databases. Don't they all do the same thing? In actuality, all databases are different because every databases is a different product that covers different:

  1. Types of sources (primary, secondary)
  2. Types of materials (books, articles, movies, images)
  3. Fields of Research (Arts, Chemistry, Math)
  4. Publishers or Publishing Companies (Taylor and Francis, Cambridge, Oxford)
  5. Journals 
  6. Time periods or geographic regions

Each database is owned by a different database provider. JSTOR and EBSCO are not databases, but database providers. 

A Car Analogy

Think of databases as cars. In this metaphor, database providers replace car companies or makes (like Ford or Nissan), and the specific database is the car make (i.e. the Ford Edge or the Nissan Armada). 

Each "car" has different parts and features that make it more appropriate for different tasks and different consumers. For example, a farmer who has to haul items will need a truck while a parent with several young children will need a minivan. 

Now, just as there are several "cars" that have very similar features and functions, there are several databases that seem to do very similar tasks. However, even these databases are different from each other because the items they will search are different due to different company policies and ownership. Most trucks look and do the same thing and yet we have several different truck companies and the parts inside the trucks will be different. Databases are the same in this regard. 

 

Choosing the Right Database

The library has a helpful Databases A-Z page that allows students to view all of the databases we have access to. Start at this page when selecting the right database for your research. 

the Databases A-Z page for Grinnell Libraries

 

Each database has a title, a link for access the database, and a short description for what the database covers. 

 

Take note of the Filter Bars at the top of the page.

Filter bar located at the top of the Databases A-Z page

You can filter the databases by Subject, which can be immensely helpful in finding the right database for your purposes. Simply select the subject that best describes the area you are working on and the results on the page will display only databases that cover that topic. Keep in mind that many research topics are multidisciplinary, so you many want to explore the databases in several different subjects. 

 

You can also filter by database type. Choose from News, Audio, Image, Video, or Piano and vocal scores to find the appropriate database for your needs

General Databases to Start with

The below links either search a large collection of databases at once or are very general in content. Use them as a starting place, but use other databases to find more relevant and useful results. Check out other LibGuides to find databases that cover the subject area that you are looking for. 

For articles and scholarly journals: 

For Reference sources: 

For Primary Sources: 

For News Sources:

Data and Statistical Abstracts 

A Basic Database Search

  1. Pick a database from the Database A-Z List
  2. Most databases will direct you a screen with a search bar like the picture below depicts of the EBSCO Discovery Service page. You can enter in your search terms here, or you can click the "Advanced Search" for more search options. 
  3. Once you are in the advanced search, enter in your search query. For more information on how to structure a great search query, look at the "Structuring a Search Query" page of this guide. For this search, we are going to use the search query "Street food AND cost". Once the terms are entered, click on "search" or select more features from the options below the search bar.an ebsco discovery search screen with the terms "Street food" AND "cost" selected
  4. A list of result will appear. Use the filters on the left hand side to limit to "full text" only options, "peer reviewed" only options, and items available in the Library's collection. results list of the search "street food AND cost" in EBSCO discovery. The left hand filters are highlighted
  5. You can further filter results by type of source (See the "Identifying Sources" section of this guide for more information), by subject (see the "structuring a search query" to learn more about subjects, geography, language, and more. 
  6. Click on a item to find the record of the item including the Abstract, author information and more.
  7. If the full text isn't available, copy the title and search it using the library catalog feature, which is detailed in the "Using the Library Catalog" section of this guide. 

Note: Do NOT save the article by copying the url on the top of the page. This is not a stable url, which means it will not lead back to the article you want at a later time. Instead, use the "permalink" option or use a Citation Manager, as described in the "Citation Managers: The Hero we need" section of this guide.