A database is a collection of academic journals that can all be searched at one time. To see a list of suggested databases and examples of database search pages, please visit the Finding Articles page of this guide.
Databases are searched by submitting search queries. Search queries are singular search terms or combinations of search terms. Search terms are words or phrases that relate to your research question. They are often important nouns in your research question. You can also use synonyms or related terms.
A database is searched by entering search terms. A database doesn't understand questions, so you will need to break your research question down into usable search terms (and synonyms for those search terms).
Example research question:
How does the type of content (video, image, text) shared by influencers affect consumer engagement?
You can turn your research question into search terms. This is a good way to make sure that you are looking for resources that relate to your paper's scope and topic.
Identify the important words or terms in your research question. These are more likely to be the nouns that you use to specify the scope of your topic.
Write out each important word/term as it appears in your research question. Next to the term, list synonyms. You can also search words that mean the same thing.
You can use our digital search term worksheet to turn your research question into search terms.
When you find an article you like, look at that article's keywords. These are the words the database attaches to the article. They are usually written underneath the article's listing in your search results.
Different databases use different keywords. By reusing the keywords that the database likes, you are learning to speak that database's "language".
Some databases will give you suggestions for search terms when you start typing in a search term textbox. You can select those suggestions if you want. Of course, you can always type out your own text to search, but these suggestions are terms that the database absolutely recognizes.
Often, the suggestions will be several terms in the same box, all separated by or. This means that the search engine will search for all those terms at once.
Always check before you select a string of terms. Some of the terms might not be equivalent for your research topic!