Subscription Databases available
at VUSC’s Online Library
Biographical Information |
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Database |
Description |
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| ANB | American National Biography: an outstanding resource for info about deceased Americans –17,500 biographies | ||
Books–Full-text Online |
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| ebrary | Our subscription to ebrary gives us access to about 15,000 online books and documents in most academic disciplines. Seventy percent of these items were published since 2000. You must download the reader before you begin, to enable you to highlight, make annotations, etc. |
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| NetLibrary | Another library of online, full-text books to which we subscribe. With NetLibrary, you can also set up an account to be used off campus. | ||
Book Reviews |
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| Choice Reviews Online | Probably the most useful site for identifying academic books to order.CHOICE reviews significant current books and electronic resources of interest to those in higher education. Each year CHOICE publishes more than 6,500 reviews by subject experts. | ||
| InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP |
Some full-text book reviews; Use the author’s name as the subject; coverage back to 1980 |
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| Proquest Research Library | Similar to InfoTrac in coverage; coverage back to 1985 | ||
| JSTOR | Full-text entire runs of scholarly journals(except for recent years); be sure to choose only reviews as the type of source. Coverage: For any periodical in the database, back to the beginning of publication | ||
| Lexis-Nexis | Newspapers full-text; search for title of book or author | ||
Country Information |
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| CountryWatch | Up-to-date information and news on all countries of the world | ||
Dictionaries |
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| OED | Oxford English Dictionary, THE BIG ONE! | ||
| AccessScience | All areas of science and technology | ||
Dissertations |
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| Dissertation Abstracts | Part of the FirstSearch group of databases, DissAbs provides info on dissertations and masters theses back to 1861. Abstracts for dissertations since 1980 and for master’s theses since 1988. | ||
Encyclopedias |
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| Britannica Online | Everything! And a great place to start researching if you know very little about your topic. | ||
| AccessScience | Online encyclopedia of science and technology from McGraw-Hill | ||
Full-text Periodicals |
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| InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP | Most subject areas; check full-text box. | ||
| Proquest Research Library | Most subject areas; check full-text box. | ||
| JSTOR | Entire runs of certain titles. | ||
| FirstSearch Wilson Select Plus | Choose Wilson Select Plus from the list of databases | ||
| EBSCO | Many databases to choose from, with full text. | ||
Newspapers |
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| Lexis-Nexis | A full-text news, legal, and business database. Varies, but covers most newspapers back 10 years. | ||
Primary Sources |
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| Lexis-Nexis Primary Sources in US History Women and Social Movements in the US |
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Scholarly Journals |
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| InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP | Click on the box that says Peer-reviewed. Coverage back to 1985. | ||
| Proquest Research Library | Click on the box that says Peer-reviewed. Coverage back to 1985. | ||
| JSTOR | All journals listed are scholarly; click on the subject area you wish to search. Coverage: back to the beginning of publication. | ||
| PsycArticles | This database contains full-text articles from APA publications. | ||
| FirstSearch Wilson Select Plus | Choose Wilson Select Plus from the list of databases. Indicate you want peer-reviewed periodicals only by using the pull-down menu at “Reviewed Journal Phrase.” | ||
| SSCI | Social Sciences Citation Index: no full text, but does let you search social science journals back to 1956 to get a clear idea of what’s been written on a particular topic, or by a particular author. | ||
| BioOne | Full-text scholarly journals in the area of bioscience. | ||
| Ebsco Psychology/Behavioral | Full text scholarly journals in the area of Psychology. | ||
Subject |
Description of Databases |
| Anthropology | First choice: JSTOR. This database has full text, entire runs of about 14 anthropology journals and 10 archaeology journals; also contains journals in Sociology, Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, and Middle Eastern Studies. You must select the subject areas you wish to search. InfoTrac and ProQuest are also helpful, though not subject specific. AnthroSource and EHRAF World Cultures are also useful. |
| Business | EBSCO Business Elite should be your first choice. InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP is an excellent database for business. JSTOR also has numerous journals in the areas of business, economics, and finance. ProQuest is also another good choice. Lexis-Nexis gives company information and also provides access to news and journals. |
| Communication | Ebsco CCMC is the first choice for Comm majors, but ProQuest also has a lot of full text journals. InfoTrac is also a good database for this subject, particularly in gender communication. |
| Controversial Issues |
Opposing Viewpoints gives excellent information if you are trying to research the pros and cons of issues such as abortion, foreign aid, etc. It’s part of the Gale databases, and you much choose it when you get to the front page. You’ll find long articles, plus links for web resources. CQ Researcher also has lengthy articles on current issues. |
| Education | ERIC is the premier education database. It includes citations and abstracts to education journals and reports. However, ERIC has little full text. Both InfoTrac and ProQuest have full text education periodicals. If you’re looking for just one article on a subject, try those before ERIC. |
| History | First choice: JSTOR, the most useful database with scholarly journals in this subject area. JSTOR includes full-text runs of the most important history journals. Lexis-Nexis Primary Sources is a collection of primary documents in African-American, Women’s and US Presidential history. Women and Social Movements also has full-text primary sources. For biographical information on deceased Americans, try American National Biography. Lexis-Nexis contains newspapers articles back about 10 years. History/Political Science majors check out more books than any other major, so VANPAC should be your best friend. |
| Literature | There are several choices for the lit major. First, GALE is an incredible full-text database with biographical information on authors and critical analyses of titles. Try it first. JSTOR also gives access to about 50 literature periodicals. InfoTrac and ProQuest also are choices, though only after one has tried GALE and JSTOR. |
| Math | JSTOR has full-text articles for math majors, but InfoTrac and ProQuest are also choices. |
| Music | JSTOR is a good choice because it has full-text runs of entire periodicals. RILM, which is part of FirstSearch, offers abstracts for articles in about 500 scholarly journals back to 1969. You must choose to search this database from a list, and remember, there is no full-text. Other choices which contain some full-text articles are InfoTrac and ProQuest. Grove Music contains the full text of New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, New Grove Dictionary of Opera and New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. |
| Nursing | The Ebsco databases are the place to begin. Health Source: Nursing Edition (550 scholarly full text journals) will be very useful, as well as CINAHL with Full Text, which Ebsco says is “the world’s most comprehensive source of full text for nursing and allied health journals. Ebsco also has several other health-related databases. Look at them all and become familiar with them. |
| Political Science | JSTOR has full-text runs of about 26 political science journals. Add on to that number the 40 history journals, and this is an excellent choice. CQ Researcher with its long essays on current issues is also available, plus Opposing Viewpoints. Don’t forget the general academic databases which have both magazines and scholarly journals: InfoTrac, ProQuest, and Ebsco Academic. For newspapers, Lexis-Nexis is your best bet. |
| Psychology | First choice: PsycArticles. This resource has full-text articles from 40 top psychology journals. More comprehensive is PsycInfo, which contains citations and abstracts for “the entire world” of psychology research sources back to 1887. For full-text articles, you might also try ProQuest, where you can choose to search only psychology articles. A new database, Ebsco Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection has full text articles in more than 560 journals. |
| Religion | Two religion databases give excellent information. First, ATLA, which is part of the FirstSearch group of databases, has both citations and abstracts, and full-text for some articles. RTA (also called REX) is also available, but it contains abstracts only. ProQuest also gives the choice of searching only the religion portion of its database. |
| Science | For all science majors, JSTOR is a good first choice because it has nearly the entire run of the journal Science, among other journals. It also contains 8 botany journals. BioOne contains full-text scholarly journals in bioscience. PubMed is the comprehensive database for anatomy, physiology, and medicine, but it contains only citations and abstracts. Other choices are InfoTrac and ProQuest. AccessScience gives more basic information such as definitions. |
| Sociology | JSTOR is the first choice for sociology majors because it offers entire full-text runs of about 30 sociology journals. |
| Spanish | JSTOR has entire full-text runs of seven journals specializing in Latin American Studies. |
| Theatre | Try either ProQuest Arts Module or InfoTrac for reviews of plays and critical analyses. Gale Literature database has info on dramatists and you’ll find our set of Drama Criticism in the Reference Room. |
| Women’s Studies | Contemporary Women’s Issues is an extraordinary database covering topics throughout the world. One can research an issue, for instance infanticide, in a particular country. Women/Social Movements in the U.S. 1600-2000 is also possible option. ProQuest, InfoTrac, and JSTOR are other options. |
Alphabetical List of Databases
Database |
Description |
Coverage |
Audience |
| AccessScience | Online encyclopedia of science and technology from McGraw-Hill | All areas of science & technology | Lower and upper division students |
| ANB | American National Biography: an outstanding resource for info about deceased Americans | 17,500 biographies | Anyone |
| ATLA Religion ATLA Religion in EBSCO |
Religion database of periodicals and dissertations | Periodicals, books, essays in edited books, book reviews. | Lower and upper division students Useful for mainly religion students, though also comm and psych. |
| BioOne | Scholarly full-text journals in the area of bioscience. | ||
| Britannica Online | Standard reference encyclopedia with WWW links | Everything! | Everyone! |
| Choice Reviews Online | Reviews of books and electronic resources | Extensive, but particularly reviews of scholarly books | Faculty & Staff, but available for all. |
| Contemporary Women’s Issues | Full-text access to global information on women in over 150 countries | Books, journals, newsletters, reports, fact sheets | Excellent for social science, forensics, etc. |
| Country Watch | Up-to-date news and information on each of the recognized countries of the world. | Statistics, information on history, economics, culture, etc., of any country. | Excellent for anthropology, business, political science, etc. |
| CQ Researcher | Reports on current hot issues | CQ Press produces 44 reports each year; reports are about 12,000 words long. | An excellent resource for speeches, debate, research papers. |
| ebrary | Full text eletronic books. These are cataloged in our library catalog VANPAC, but also accessible from the ebrary link. You must download the reader to read the books. You can print off 5 pages at a time. | About 40,000 books | Everyone! |
| Ebsco Databases: Academic Search Elite AltHealth Business Source Elite CINAHL Full Text CINAHL Select Pre-CINAHL Clinical Pharmacology HealthSource/Nursing HealthSource/Consumers Newspaper Source New Testament Abstacts Old Testament Abstracts Regional Business News CMMC (Comm) Psychology/Behavioral |
These databases are a significant source of information for all students. Nursing students would find the CINAHL and Health Source databases useful. Business majors would find that Business Source Elite has a wealth of full-text journals and magazines. All students would find Academic Search Elite helpful for journals and magazines. Religion majors will use New and Old Testament Abstracts extensively (no full text, though!) CMMC is an excellent choice for Communication students. |
Extensive databases with many full text articles and abstracts. | All majors |
| ERIC | A huge education database of periodicals, reports, etc. with some fulltext materials. | 1966-current | Useful for many disciplines. |
| FirstSearch | Includes access to RILM, Books in Print, Dissertation Abstracts, WorldCat, and WilsonSelectPlus, a full-text database. | Varies according to database. | Useful for many disciplines and for lower division, upper division, and graduate students. |
| GaleLiterature | A literature resource with full text biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of about 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, and journalists. | Varies. | Useful for upper and lower division students |
| Grove Music | Contains the full-text Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Dictionary of Opera, and Dictionary of Jazz. | Reference works for both upper and lower division students. | |
| InfoTrac Expanded Academic ASAP | A general periodical database that indexes about 1900 magazines and journals; about 900 of those are full text. | Two files: Current file: current year plus 3 years. Backfile to 1980. | Covers every subject area; useful for both lower and upper division |
| JSTOR | A comprehensive archive of full-text, full runs of journals in selected subjects. Currently, about 117 participating journals, about 112 currently available online. | Entire publication with the exception of the last 4 -5 years. | Anthropology, ecology, economics, literature, math, philosophy, history, political science, sociology, and other areas to a lesser degree. Useful mainly to upper division. |
| Lexis-Nexis | A full-text newpaper and legal database. | Varies, but covers most newspapers back 10 years. | |
| Lexis-Nexis Primary Sources/US History | Primary and secondary sources in three areas: American Women, African Americans, and US presidential history | Scholarly and reference articles, contemporary accounts, manuscripts, laws, court cases, speeches, photographs, and political cartoons. | Communication, history, political science majors |
| Medline/PubMed | An immense database (9 million citations!) of medical periodicals–no full text. | Extensive coverage | Anatomy/Physiology students, physicians, anyone interested in information about health problems |
| Melvyl | The library catalog for the University of California system, plus access to periodical holdings of other libraries in California. | Extensive. | Useful for all students |
| Opposing Viewpoints | Essays and web sources on controversial topics | Abortion, AIDS, Cloning, etc. |
Forensics, Speech, argumentative papers |
| Oxford Dictionary | Oxford English Dictionary | Anyone | |
| Oxford Reference Library | Database contains many of the Oxford Companions(i.e., Concise Oxford Companion to Military History) | Wide variety of subjects | Useful for all students wanting basic information, rather than extended analysis |
| Proquest Research Library | A general periodical database that indexes about 2000 magazines and periodicals; about 1000 of those are full text | Similar coverage to InfoTrac | Useful for both lower and upper division |
| PsycINFO and PsycArticles | The definitive psychology databases. While PsycInfo has no full-text at this time, PsycArticles has full-text materials. Both are part of the EBSCO family of databases. | 1965-current. | Both upper and lower division, though LD often also use InfoTrac |
| SSCI | Social Sciences Citation Index: no full text, but does let you search social science journals back to 1956 to get a clear idea of what’s been written on a particular topic, or by a particular author. | Back to 1956 | Social Science majors, particularly psychology and political science |
| Religious and Theological Abstracts (RTA) | Contains abstracts from over 350 world religion journals. A popular research tool for religion students, but since ATLA has full text, it’s not used as much as it was previously. | Since the 1960s | Upper division and graduate religion majors. |
| VANPAC | Our library catalog | Your access to call numbers for books, CDs, dvds, etc. | Anyone |
| WilsonSelectPlus | Another general full-text database, with magazines and journals. Part of the FirstSearch group of databases. | Anyone | |
| Women and Social Movements in the US 1600-2000 | Several hundred primary documents and teaching tools that expand on movements such as suffrage, abolition, etc. | UD and Faculty |
