How to write an Essay: |
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| Step 5: Use Academic Databases |
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Academic Database Resources |
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Most colleges and universities have a comprehensive list of academic databases for students to research and use references from electronic academic guides. There are a number of popular Online Academic Databases which have excellent material and resources, some of which are:
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Academic Search Premier |
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Academic Search Premier is one of the most popular and widely used databases. It has a number of other databases like Eric which has resources on a wide variety of topics and subjects. Ebsco Host is also part of the Academic Search Premier and is systematically arranged into sections and topics. It offers several choices and provides the user with options to control the number of hits by specifying the date of publication, full text options and other settings. Like Google, there is also an advanced search tab for more focussed research. |
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CQ Researcher |
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The CQ Researcher is also a database but is distinct from other academic databases in the area of content production which is largely based on current topics, with a new topic published every fortnight in the fresh issue. The content is not generated by many researchers but by a few, who generate content which provide a basic over view of more current topics and debates. As such, the database is largely focussed on providing information and can be used as an excellent start-up before starting research on other academic databases. The sources and bibliography found on this database can be effectively used for further research on the more advanced databases like Eric and Ebsco Host. | ||
JSTOR |
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JSTOR is a widely used academic database which has an extensive collection of scholarly journals and articles. However, the files are largely saved as .pdf files and not in the form of word documents, which increases the download time. Downloading these files also requires Adobe Acrobat reader which is available as a free download on the internet, without which it is not possible to read these files. The resources and material found on JSTOR are authentic and extremely reliable and will generally have all the information you need for your research essay or term paper topic. |
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LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe |
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Essay writing and research often necessitates the use of news articles and students could be confused as to where to locate these articles. One of the popular databases to find news articles is the LEXIS-NEXIS. However, students should remember that news articles are not scholarly articles and that they are primary sources of current news, events, information and topics which are hot and trendy. The best part about the LEXIS-NEXIS database is that it has a collection of nearly all the newspapers in the world and the difficult part is searching for the required material for your research essay or term paper from this huge collection, which could be a difficult task. | ||
Troubleshooting |
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Sometimes, information could be difficult to find on one database and in such cases, it is advisable to use another database rather than wasting your time. Alternately, you could also try and use different keywords or just regroup them together or mix them up. Sometimes you may be confused with too many hits being generated and you could reduce the number of hits by using more specific keywords. In some cases you may also get very few numbers of hits and when this happens you should choose different keywords, try and search using single key words and then using broader keywords gradually. Conclusively, do not forget that you have a wide choice of databases to choose from and your research for writing your paper or essay should not be limited to few databases only. There are many databases and online libraries to which you can gain access. Some of the other databases which you might find helpful are:
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