LibGuides: ENGL 1103 (Collander): Using Databases

What are databases and why should I use them?

Databases store and organize information and allow the information to be retrieved by searchers using keywords or searching different database fields. The databases at Catawba are full of information from newspaper articles to scholarly journals and even video resources or ebooks.

You should use these databases to help target specific information for your research needs. Using a database effectively can lead to more productive search results which allows you more time to review the information you have found, helps you find higher quality information than a generic web search and allows you to filter results to your search specifications. Most databases can also generate citations in a variety of formats and will email the article and citation directly to your inbox.

There are tutorials available for select databases. You will see a LEARN MORE button underneath each database that has a tutorial. There is also a side button on this page that provides access to a list of all the database tutorials that are currently available.

Databases

Gale Literary Sources This link opens in a new window
Articles, critical essays, topic overviews, and biographies covering authors, their works, and literary movements.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Articles, critical essays, work and topic overviews, full-text works, and biographies covering authors, their works, and literary movements.
Literary Reference Plus This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive database that provides users with a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. Content includes thousands of plot summaries, essays of literary criticism, author biographies, book reviews, classic and contemporary poems, classic and contemporary short stories, and author interviews.
Biography Reference Source This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of full-text biographies on popular and heavily-researched figures.

These databases will provide access to ebooks. You can also search our Discovery Search and filter for Ebooks.

ABC-CLIO eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
Collection of ebooks covering history and literary criticism. Includes large a collection of slave narratives.
Ebook Central Academic and Public Library Complete This link opens in a new window
Find scholarly ebooks on all subjects.
eBooks on EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
Over 26,000 fiction, reference, scholarly, and professional books online.
EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection This link opens in a new window
Collection includes thousands of e-books covering a large selection of academic subjects and features e-books from leading publishers and university presses.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Searchable collection of online reference titles and test prep ebooks.
hoopla This link opens in a new window
Downloadable audio and ebooks on a variety of topics. An app is available for download. **Users will need to make a personal account to use this resource.**
Open Library This link opens in a new window
Find ebooks from libraries across the country. Create a username and password to borrow up to five books at a time.
NC Live (Home Grown) Ebooks Collection via BiblioLabs This link opens in a new window
Ebooks from North Carolina publishers and authors. Includes fiction, non fiction and poetry.

The databases below are good general academic databases with links to a variety of sources.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 4,600 journals, including full text for nearly 3,900 peer-reviewed titles.
Academic Video Online Premium (AVON) This link opens in a new window
Academic Video Online is a multidisciplinary video streaming database that includes documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances and more.
JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection This link opens in a new window
Includes all 2,800+ academic journals on JSTOR that span more than 60 disciplines across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, along with millions of primary sources across four collections.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary collection of online resources covering life, health and physical sciences, social science, and the humanities. Provides access to millions of articles from over 1500 journals.

Here are some newspaper databases that may be of interest:

Historic North Carolina Digital Newspaper Collection This link opens in a new window
Digitized historical newspaper content from over 1,000 NC county newspapers. Alternate Name: Newspapers.com North Carolina Collection.
International Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Information and news from more than 660 of the world's top newspapers.
Newspaper Source Plus This link opens in a new window
Newspaper Source Plus includes more than 860 full-text newspapers, providing more than 35 million full-text articles. In addition, the database features more than 857,000 television and radio news transcripts.
New York Times This link opens in a new window
Full articles from the New York Times (1980-current).
US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
News content from many national newspapers, newswires and selected news magazines.