If you are about to take your very first online course or
considering an online degree in order to continue your education, it's
natural to be excited and nervous about the prospect of learning over
the Internet.
We know you have lots of questions about going back to
school online, so eLearners has developed a series of quick,
easy-to-read "How-To" articles about online education to help ensure that you have a successful
online learning experience!
Databases for Individual Use (some require a subscription, others have free content, pay-per-article sales.)
Questia http://www.questia.com/ Questia's database contains, according to their website, “the world's largest online collection of books and journal articles in the humanities and social sciences, plus magazine and newspaper articles.” I've known quite a few students who swear by the Questia, and use it faithfully for their research. I believe that this is a very good option for undergraduates taking general education courses, who may not have easy access to a robust online library.
Highbeam http://www.highbeam.com/ Highbeam has some of the same journals and magazines as Questia, but there seems to be somewhat different coverage. There are more magazines and newspapers, and Highbeam seems to have fairly good coverage in education, health and science.
Find Articles http://www.findarticles.com/ LookSmart's Find Articles is a great database, with quite a few free articles. The journals include business, humanities, social sciences, health, and science.
Pathfinder.com http://www.pathfinder.com/ This is the portal for Time, Discover, Fortune, Sunset, Parenting, People, TeenPeople, and more. Unfortunately, one must pay for many of the archived articles, but it's a great source, particularly for current events and issues.
Library Databases These are probably too numerous to list, but I'm going to list ones that are particularly helpful for students who are seeking peer-reviewed articles and statistics.
Proquest http://www.proquest.com/ With databases of articles tailored to meet the needs of students and faculty at different levels and institutions, Proquest's resources are targeted and easy to use.
EBSCO Information Services http://www.ebsco.com/ Most online libraries subscribe to at least one of the EBSCO databases. They have excellent coverage of interdisciplinary journals. While the full-text options may be a bit limited, the citations, with key words and publication data can help one obtain the article from other sources.
Ovid http://www.ovid.com/ Ovid has absolutely a dizzying array of databases and information products. Their medical databases are expensive, but indispensable to many.
LexisNexis http://www.lexis-nexis.com/ Best-known for its database on legal publications, LexisNexis has extensive holdings in newspapers. It is an excellent source for current information and syndicated content.
Wilson Web Databases http://www.hwwilson.com/ The old green “Readers' Guides” are now available at one's fingertips, and with full-text versions. The Wilson databases include journals and publishers that are not always easy to find, particularly in business and agriculture.
Education Full Text
General Science Full Text
Humanities Full Text
Readers' Guide Full Text
Social Sciences Full Text
Wilson Business Full Text
JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive http://www.jstor.org/ JSTOR has an amazing collection of humanities and interdisciplinary journals. Perhaps what is most exciting about this collection is that the older journals are being digitized and included, which means that there is much less reliance on interlibrary loan. An article about JSTOR appears here: Bowen, William G. "The Academic Library in a Digitized, Commercialized Age: Lessons from JSTOR." ALA Midwinter Participants' Meeting (based on Romanes Lecture, delivered at Oxford University, October 17, 2000). January 14, 2001. Online. Available: http://www.jstor.org/about/bowen.html.
Project Muse http://muse.jhu.edu/ Originating at Johns Hopkins university libraries, this is one of my favorite databases. The articles are full-text, and they cover very interesting journals in the humanities.
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