A Typical Database:
"Expanded Academic ASAP"

At the top of the list on the web page "Articles / Databases" is the link to "Expanded Academic ASAP" from Infotrac. If you become familiar with it, you will find other Infotrac databases easy to use, and you will have a general grasp of how all databases work.

Most databases have certain features in common:

A choice of search types:

Basic versus advanced

Keyword versus subject

Ways of limiting or expanding the search

Help screens with examples

The first time you use a database, it's a good idea to explore its search possibilities and help screens.

Now let's look at the first search screen of "Expanded Academic ASAP." As you will see, it is a subject search, the subject being "gun control."

Infotrac's help screens are very useful. Every screen has a link to help.

The title list tells all the periodicals covered in this database, both full-text and citation-only publications. It also provides information about embargoes. (Don't forget the glossary for looking up terms like "embargo").

As with the library catalog, Infotrac's subject search looks through a set of subject headings for the words you enter. If it finds them, it lists all the articles and citations associated with the subject heading. If it doesn't find your terms, it does a keyword search, looking for your words throughout all of its articles, abstracts, and citations.

You may limit the search in four ways:

to text only (meaning that any citations that don't have the entire article with them will be weeded out)
to scholarly and professional journals ("refereed publications")
by date
to particular journals (you write in the name[s] or browse and pick from a list).

A Typical Database: "Expanded Academic ASAP"

A Typical Database:
"Expanded Academic ASAP"