A Guide to Using UMass Amherst's Online Databases

Collection Overview

The UMass Amherst Libraries support student research through online subscriptions to 17,000 journals. Journal databases includes peer-reviewed professional journals, consumer magazines, and daily newspapers - most in full-text, full-image format. The online collection is available 24/7 on-campus or from your home (off-campus users are prompted for OIT username/passwords).

Database Search Tips

Search for articles from the following list of library databases. Start with a broad-based multidisciplinary journal database. These databases cover key journals in all field. Then narrow your research with discipline-specific databases. These databases search journals on a specific subject or field of research. When you find articles of value, locate the email button, and send the article in your email account. For a guide to subject headings and key words, see the Classification Web. For a quick explanation of search logic and tips on using database search delimiters, see "A Primer in Boolean Logic."

Help Is Available

If you have not used on-line database searches before, resource staff members are available to help you at the Learning Commons on the lower level of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library. Staff hours are can be found at the Service Desk Website. Database research help is also available through the Library's Ask a Librarian reference service.

Looking for a Book?

To search for BOOKS, check the UMass Library Catalogue, where you can find both tradional books and online "E-books." Found a book in the catalogue and now need to find it in the Du Bois Library? Check for the call number in this Floor Directory.

Tips to Help Manage Databases and Book "Stacks"

College Writing's Library Tips will help you manage two important databases—Academic Search Premier and Google Scholar—as well as locate physical print books stored in the W.E.B. DuBois Library "stacks." Download it in pdf format and take it with you in your search.


— Encyclopedias: A Place to Start —

Many people recommend starting your research with an online encyclopedia, which will provide a broad overview of your subject as well as references and links to more detailed sources. Wikipedia is one extremely popular encyclopedia, but others are professionally written and edited and, therefore, more reliable. (For further information about Wikipedia, see the note at the bottom of this page.)


— University Library College Writing Guide —

This research guide was compiled by university librarian Madeleine Charney specifically for students in English Writing 112 and 112H. It provides links to a host of important resources: easy-to-use search engines and databases, tips for efficient searches, how-to videos, and even a chat line with a research librarian ready to answer your questions. Check it out.


— Databases —

Broad-based interdisciplinary databases

These multidisciplinary databases contain articles from thousands of the most well known scholarly journals. Most articles have been peer reviewed for accuracy by other scholars, thus limiting the need for further evaluation.

  • UMass Amherst Libraries & UMA WorldCat
    Enter our library's main site from here or go directly to "WorldCat," a mammoth international catalogue of information sources of all types.
  • Academic Search Premier
    Multidisciplinary database indexes 8,600 journals in all fields. Coverage: 1975 to present.
  • Expanded Academic ASAP
    Multidisciplinary database indexes 2,600 journals in all fields. Coverage: 1980 to present.
  • Google Scholar
    Accessing Google Scholar through the UMass library system lets you retrieve articles available here without cost.
  • JSTOR
    Archive of important scholarly journals across disciplines.
  • PAIS International
    100 bibliographic and full-text databases and journals in four primary editorial areas: natural sciences, social sciences, arts & humanities, and technology.

Discipline-specific databases

A wide array can be found on the UMass Library website. These databases become especially useful as you narrow the focus of your research by allowing you to search a subject in depth from the perspective of a particular discipline.


Alternative databases

As “democratic” as public search engines as well as library databases may be, ethnic and minority sites are often lost in the vast array of entries each search produces. “Alternative” databases give you access to these important perspectives.

  • Alt-Press Watch
    U.S. alternative newsweeklies, covering issues like the environment, labor, public policy, and the peace movement.
  • Ethnic Newswatch
    Articles from the newspapers, magazines and journals of ethnic communities in the United States.
  • Gender Watch
    Articles from scholarly journals and magazines about masculinity, feminism, homosexuality, and gender roles.

Popular commercial search engines

Use search engines like these to search public-domain websites for research-quality information on your topic. In many cases, the material found through these indexes is either not copyrighted or of low quality. Be judicious in selecting sites. Use your favorite search engine or select from these major search engines:


Wikipedia -- A Note: Wikipedia is not a search engine but a large and extremely popular, often-cited online encyclopedia. Like Google and Yahoo, however, the information is not professionally monitored. Built on the wiki design, it allows readers to edit, add to and monitor its content. Visit Wikipedia, read the Wikipedia entry on Wikipedia, or read a scholarly article on Wikipedia as Participatory Journalism. But also beware misinformation. An American student recently invented software capable of tracing Wikipedia edits to their sources. What did he discover? Edits were often made by individuals representing institutions with a vested interest in the information promulgated. Because of the errors professors have found in student papers citing Wikipedia, many prohibit its use. Even Wikipedia itself gives advice on Researching with Wikipedia. My suggestion: as you would any encyclopedia, use Wikipedia for an overview of your topic and a source of other potentially useful sites. Don't cite it as a direct source of information, however, unless you've found at least two other reliable sources corroborating the information.

Google Tips: NYT writer David Pogue interviewed Google executives and staff members and discovered tips and tricks for narrowing a Google search. You can find them here.

 

 

 

Database Guide
Helpful Tips for Managing
Your Search for Online
Articles as well as Library Books