The Harold L. Drimmer Library subscribes to several databases. A databases is a collection of data organized for search and retrieval. The library databases contain articles from academic journals, newspapers, or magazines on a variety of topics.
(Note: You must be a current student, staff, or faculty member to use these databases. These database are also accessible off campus. You will be prompted to enter your MYWCC ID and Password when you select a database)
Why so many databases?
Some databases are general and offer overviews of all subjects, such as Academic Search Premier. Other databases are subject specific, like Ethnic NewsWatch for multicultural research. Some databases include the full text for articles, some only provide citations, and others have a mix of full-text and citations.
How do I pick the right database?
To find databases related the person or event you are researching, select a relevant database from our list of databases.
After selecting a database, identify key words or concepts relevant to your topic. A thesaurus might come in handy in order to find terms with similar meaning that can help locate additional articles.Ensure you spelling is correct, do not use sentences.
Before running your search, set your limiters. Click on the full text box to limit your result to the full text of an article.
Click Search. As you search, you might take note of subject terms and/or keywords in useful articles. These can be used in subsequent searches to locate additional items.
Before reading the article browse the abstract. The abstract is a short summary of the article and will help you decided if the article addresses your topic. Don't forget to view the subject terms for additional key words.
The databases also have several built in tools to help you manage your research. Including a citation tool to cite your articles!
For more search tips view the EBSCOhost Basic Search Tutorial.
Truncation allows you to search for a word that could have multiple endings (suffixes).
Truncation is represented by an asterisk (*). To use truncation, enter the root of a search term and replace the ending with an *. EBSCOhost finds all forms of that word.
For example, type comput* to find the words computer or computing.
Note: The Truncation symbol (*) may also be used between words to match any word.
For example, a midsummer * dream will return results that contain the exact phrase, a midsummer night’s dream.
