Online Resources: Research Databases at Your Desktop

Online resources are often referred to as databases. A database is a collection of items of information organized for convenient access. Databases are thought of in relation to computers, but there are actually many different types, both electronic and otherwise. Library card catalogs, dictionaries, and telephone books are forms of databases.

The UConn Libraries Homepage delivers hundreds of online resources to students, faculty, and staff. Many databases support an unlimited number of simultaneous users; some are limited to a fixed number of users at the same time. These resources differ in scope and content: journal citation indexes for a specific discipline, reference sources, general news articles full text, biographical information, and more.

The Libraries' web pages are designed by a team of librarians and technicians and are updated continually. The goal is to organize all of the products and services into a logical structure that is accessible to our students.

Academic Databases

Through the Homepage, more than 250 databases licensed by the Libraries provide access to information in many subject fields. They fall into two general categories:

Full text resources such as InfoTrac can provide the full text of an article, document, or publication. In other words, the entire article is available on the computer. Other popular full text databases include Academic Universe and Dow Jones Interactive.

Citation databases provide quick overviews of research materials. They include the citation (title, author, source name, publisher, date, and page numbers) as well as subject headings. Many include an abstract -- a short summary of the content -- which can be very useful in helping you determine whether a particular book or article meets your needs. Databases such as ERIC, PsycINFO,and Sociological Abstracts provide access to citations to books, journal articles, conference papers, and other types of publications.

Databases are divided into units of information called records, which in turn are divided into fields. Each field consists of a specific type of information, such as the name of the author(s), the title of the document, an abstract of the document, and indexing terms. Fields are usually identified by a two- to four-character abbreviation; e.g. TI: for Title, AB: for Abstract, PY: for Publication Year. Fields can be searched individually. An author search might look like this: au=morrison, toni

Databases provide a list of Field Codes for its databases, usually in the Help files. Sometimes Field Codes are called Index Codes or Indexing Fields.

Purpose and Content of Databases

A database can be the entry way to the academic literature of a discipline, a gateway to the papers, journal articles, and books, written by practitioners, scholars, and researchers.

Some databases are very academic and others include less scholarly materials such as InfoTrac's Expanded Academic Index.

The University of Connecticut Libraries subscribes to more than 250 online databases. Not all of these databases are useful to everyone. Someone who is studying biology will probably not need the "Middle English Compendium" database, but an English major will not need a database on Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts. As you move further into your studies, you will become familiar with databases that are appropriate for your own interests and research.

Databases: The Complete List

UConn libraries databases are organized by title, subject, and keyword in another database. You will find it on our homepage under the heading Online Resources. Click on Research Database Locator.

Remember to contact a librarian if you need help.

Glossary | Starting | Defining | Searching | Locating | Evaluating | Finalizing |