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Philosophy: Using Special Features in Databases

Use Limiters

  • Many databases have limiters to help you refine results, such as: 
    • full-text (i.e., articles that are available to read right away)
    • publication type (e.g., news, magazines, peer-reviewed journals, etc.)
    • publication date (e.g., 2010-2020)
  • Some databases will also have limiters for language, methodology, geography, etc.
  • Available filters will depend on the specific database.

Database limiters

Use Fields

  • You can specify where the database should look for your terms.
  • For example, you can specify that terms should be present in say the title, abstract, etc.
  • Different databases may have different field options.

Database fields

Use the Email Tool and Download PDFs

  • It's always best to email and / or download articles that you find to ensure that you can access them later.
  • Many database have tools for emailing articles.

Email tool

To download articles, look for the PDF icon.

PDF icon

Use the Cite Tool as a First Step

  • Many databases also have tools to help you cite articles, but these are not 100 percent accurate.
  • Copy / paste citations into your word processor, and make sure to edit them.

Cite tool