Research Guides: ENG 214: Introduction to English Literature I: Using Databases

What is a Database?

A database is a collection of information.

Most often, in library terminology, this means an online collection of articles--scholarly journal articles, magazine articles, and newspaper articles.

Some databases are "multidisciplinary"--meaning they contain articles on a wide variety of topics. Other databases are more specialized and may focus on articles from a particular subject area such as business, history, or psychology.

Recommended Multi-Disciplinary Databases

Academic Search Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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A wide range of subjects covered; multidisciplinary database with significant full text. Find scholarly, trade, and popular titles.
Includes more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. Coverage of information spanning a broad range of important areas of academic study including: anthropology, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, geology, law, materials science, mathematics, music, pharmaceutical sciences, physics, psychology, religion & theology, veterinary science, women's studies, zoology, and many other fields.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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A wide range of subjects covered. Find academic journals, reviews, articles, and books & book chapters.
JSTOR is a digital library of academic content in many formats and disciplines, including scholarly and peer-reviewed articles as well as e-books. Coverage varies by title but ranges from the 1800s to the 2010s.
CQ Researcher Online (CQ Press) This link opens in a new window
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A wide range of subjects covered. Find reports covering political and social issues.
Regular reports on topics in health, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the U.S. economy.Coverage: 1991-
New York Times Online
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Full access to The New York Times Online. When first using the Libraries subscription to NYT Online, you will be prompted to create an account or associate an existing account with the UWGB subscription.

Subject Specific Databases for Social Progress Index

USA.gov This link opens in a new window
Librarian recommended!
USA.gov is the official U.S. gateway & search engine for all government information on the internet.
Statista
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Librarian recommended!
Subjects covered include media, business, finance, politics, and a variety of other areas of interest. Find infographics, statistics, and data on over 80,000 topics from over 18,000 sources.
Content categorized into 21 market sectors, it provides users with direct access to quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a variety of other areas of interest.

Pew Research Center
Sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trust, the Pew Research Center provides research data and analysis in the areas of U.S. Politics, Media and News, Social Trends, Religion, Internet and Technology, Hispanics and Global topics.

Health Source: Consumer (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Librarian recommended!
Subjects covered include healthcare. Find patient information and articles from consumer health magazines.
This database is the richest collection of consumer health information available to libraries worldwide, providing information on many health topics including the medical sciences, food sciences and nutrition, childcare, sports medicine and general health.Coverage: 1988-
PsycInfo (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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Librarian recommended!
Subjects covered include psychology and all specialties. Also covers psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. Contains citations and summaries of journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports, as well as citations to dissertations.
Includes material covering psychological aspects of related disciplines, such as medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, anthropology, business, and law. Coverage: 1872 -
CINAHL Plus With Full Text (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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Subjects covered include nursing, allied health, biomedicine, consumer health, nutrition, and nursing specialties. Find article, academic journals, evidence-based care sheets, quick lessons, consumer information, and more.
Offering complete coverage of English-language nursing journals and publications from the National League for Nursing and the American Nurses' Association. Coverage: 1937-
MEDLINE (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and related fields. Find scholarly articles including case studies, clinical trials, meta-analyses, review articles, and editorial content.
Coverage: 1966 -

Environment Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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Subjects covered include agriculture, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, pollution & waste management. Find articles, academic and trade journals, book chapters, reviews, and reports.
The database contains citations for articles from domestic and international journals, monographs and conference papers of the North American Association of Environmental Education.
JSTOR Sustainability
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Subjects covered include environmental science, human ecology, climatology, policy & public health, and water management. Find journals, ebooks, and research reports in the field of sustainability.
The subjects of resilience and sustainability are explored broadly, covering research on environmental stresses and their impact on society. (description from database)
Environmental Studies & Policy (Gale OneFile)
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Subjects covered include environmental science, agriculture, water studies, and energy studies. Find trade and scholarly publications.

Civil Rights

Ethnic Diversity Source This link opens in a new window
Librarian recommended!Subjects covered include multicultural & ethnic studies. Find scholarly, trade, and popular titles.
GenderWatch (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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Librarian recommended!
Subjects covered include women & gender studies, social justice issues, LGBTQ studies, and child & family studies. Find international journals, magazines, newsletters, regional publications, special reports and conference proceedings.
The database provides in-depth coverage of the subjects that are uniquely central to women's daily lives, including family, childbirth, birth control, daycare, domestic abuse, work and the workplace, sexual harassment, aging, aging parents, body image, eating disorders and social and societal roles.
Women's Studies International (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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Subjects covered include women and gender studies and aspects of sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, international relations, arts & humanities, business and education as they relate to women & gender. Find articles, scholarly and trade journals, reviews, books & book chapters, and reports.
Women's Studies International supports curriculum development in the areas of sociology, history, political science & economy, public policy, international relations, arts & humanities, business and education.
Women and Social Movements US 1600-2000: Basic Edition (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include women and gender studies, social movements, social justice, sociology, politics, activism, history, and realted fields. Find projects addressing aspects of women and social movements in the United States, each project contains primary documents and contextual materials collected to answer a specific question.
It includes as well book, film and website reviews, notes from the archives, and teaching tools.Coverage: 1600-2000
LGBT Studies in Video
Subjects covered include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender studies, gender studies, history, and politics. Find documentaries, interviews, archival footage, and select feature films

Education

Education Research Complete (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include all levels of education from early childhood to higher education, and all educational specialties. Find articles, trade & academic journals, book chapters, and reviews.
Provides indexing and abstracts for more than 3,000 journals back to 1881, as well as full text for more than 2,000 journals back to 1936, and includes full text for numerous education-related conference papers and more than 500 books and monographs back to 1972.Coverage: 1881-

Legal Rights & Safety

Criminal Justice Collection
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Subjects covered include criminal justice, law, government, and other social sciences. Find news, scholarly and trade publication, and reports.
Congress.gov (formerly THOMAS) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include law, government, political science, history, and reference. Find bill summaries & status, full text of bills, major legislation enacted into law and more.
Also includes the Congressional Record and CR Index, Congressional Committee information, Congressional directory information, information about the legislative process, and a selection of historical documents.
Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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Subjects covered include sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Find scholarly and trade journals, articles, conference papers, books, and dissertations.
The database draws information from an international selection of over 2,600 journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations.

Databases with a Historical Perspective

Project Gutenberg This link opens in a new window
Project Gutenberg is an on-going project to produce and distribute free electronic editions of books in the public domain. Most are works of literature such as novels, poetry, and drama.
Early English Books Online This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include literature, history, philosophy, humanities, and religious studies. Find digital copies of works printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700
Coverage from the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War. 1473-1700
Twentieth Century Advice Literature (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include gender roles and relations, American consumerism, views of democratic citizenship, character development for children, and more. Find primary sources.
Also includes changes in reaction to each major war (including World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam), class relations, and adjustments to new technology (such as proper manners when using the telephone, point-and-shoot camera, or e-mail).
Gale Literature (Gale)
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Subjects include literature, language, book reviews, criticism, and more. Find journal articles, book chapters, reviews, and reference works.
African American Periodicals (1825-1995) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include cultural, literary and social history; ethnic studies, news and more. Find news, commentary, advertisements, literature, drawings and photographs, and primary source material.
1825-1995 features more than 170 wide-ranging periodicals by and about African Americans. Published in 26 states, the publications include academic and political journals, commercial magazines, institutional newsletters, organizations' bulletins, annual reports and other genres.

Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
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Subjects covered include history, news, and a wide range of topics. Find primary sources: the full text and full image articles from the New York Times dating back to the 19th century.
Coverage from 1851 to present- most recent 3 years not available.
Times Digital Archive (Gale)
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The Times (London, England) Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of The Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for the 19th – 20th Century history detailing every complete page of every issue from 1785-2009.
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
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A wide range of subjects covered. Find citations to primary sources: popular, general-interest periodicals published in the United States from 1890 to 1982.
Readers' Guide Retrospective is a database containing comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and reflects the history of 20th century America.
Lily (Accessible Archives)
The Lily is the first newspaper for women, and was issued from 1849 until 1853 under the editorship of Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894).
African American Newspapers (1827-1998) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include cultural, literary and social history; ethnic studies, news, and more. Find primary sources and news.
1827-1998 provides online access to approximately 270 U.S. newspapers chronicling a century and a half of the African American experience. This unique collection features papers from more than 35 states—including many rare and historically significant 19th century titles.
Early American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include historic local, regional, & national news. Find news and primary sources.
Available here: Early American Newspapers, Series 1, 1690-1876; Series 1 (2009 ETC); Series 2, 1758-1900; Series 2 (2009 ETC); Series 3, 1829-1922; Series 3 (2009 ETC); Series 4, 1756-1922; Series 4 (2009 ETC); Series 5, 1777-1922; Series 5 (2009 ETC); Series 6, 1741-1922; Series 6 (2009 ETC); Series 7, 1773-1922 and Series 7 (2009 ETC).
Newspapers.com Library Edition - World Collection
Historical newspapers archive from the 1700s - 2000s containing thousands of well-known regional, state, and small local newspapers in the United States and other countries.
This is a Badgerlink resource, if you are unable to access please visit the Badgerlink site: https://badgerlink.dpi.wi.gov/

America: History & Life with full text (EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
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Subjects covered include history, culture, area studies, and current affairs literature of the U.S. and Canada. Find academic journals, books & book chapters, regional publications, and reviews.
America: History & Life is an index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. The database indexes 1,700 journals from 1964 to present and also includes citations and links to book and media reviews. Strong English-language journal coverage is balanced by an international perspective on topics and events, including abstracts in English of articles published in more than 40 languages.Coverage: 1954 -
American Indian History
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Subjects covered include First Nations Studies, history, culture studies, law, art, and more. Covers over 600 regional cultures and over 15,000 years of First Nations history. Also includes a selection of primary sources.
U.S. History In Context
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Subjects covered include United States history, including events, biographies, social movements, and politics. Find academic, trade, popular, and primary sources.
American History in Video (Alexander Street Press)
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Subjects covered include history, biography, politics, world events. Find primary sources, streaming video content, and newsreels.
The early newsreels, including the complete series of United Newsreel and Universal Newsreel, available online in their entirety only in this collection, capture history as it was made and reported to viewers of the time. Collection mainly consists of contemporaneous video from the 1890s to the 1980s.
Early Encounters in North America: Peoples, Cultures, and the Environment (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include history, First Nations studies, cultural studies, and environmental studies. Find primary sources; both published and unpublished acounts, including narratives, diaries, journals, and letters.
It focuses on personal accounts and provides wide range of perspectives. Includes both published and unpublished acounts, including narratives, diaries, journals, and letters.Coverage: 1534-1850
North American Immigrants Letters, Diaries, and Oral Histories (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include history and related fields. Find primary sources: North American immigrant letters, diaries, and oral histories from the United States and Canada.
Coverage: 1840-present, with the majority of the coverage from 1920-1980.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries: Colonial to 1950 (Alexander Street Press) This link opens in a new window
Subjects covered include history and related fields. Find primary sources: letters and diaries that describe the immediate experiences of 107 women.
Coverage: Colonial to 1950