Using Databases

Summon is one way of locating journal articles for your assignments, but you are also able to search subject specific databases.

The 'Databases' tab on the Library homepage lists subject specific databases - use the 'Browse by Subject' option to find databases for your subject area.

Subject guides also recommend relevant databases for your subject area. Look under the Journal Articles tab to find them.

Watch it!

Watch this brief video about finding databases (1.04 MB)

Watch this brief video to learn about peer reviewed articles (890.46 KB)

Task: Try it yourself!

Read this "How to" guide on Database Searching for tips on how to search in databases, then open the following databases and try a search.

Web of Science:
Open a new browser and go to the Library homepage. Click on the Databases tab and enter Web of Science in the search box. Navigate to the database and enter the following keywords in the three searchboxes: earthquake AND construction AND seismic. Ensure you have selected 'topic' in each index field. Click on Search.

In the results list refine your results by a Web of Science category of relevance to your discipline.
How many results do you get?
Select the Sort option and sort the results by relevance
Carefully read the screen to find other ways you can refine your search to produce a smaller result set, ie by document type, publication year, etc

EI Engineering Village:
Return to the Library homepage and locate the database Engineering Village. Run the same search as above.

Compare the number of results with your first search in Web of Science
Look at the 'Refine Results' options on the page to narrow the results. How to they differ from the Refine Results options in Web of Science?