What is a database?
Databases are electronic catalogs containing published information. These documents can be from magazines, newspapers, academic journals, videos, images, ebooks, book chapters or essays. Some databases cover multiple subjects, while others are specific to a certain field.
Databases are different from Google, so knowing about various search techniques will improve the results retrieved from a database search.
Search by Subject: the most precise way to search article databases. Databases look for subjects only in the subject heading or descriptor field, where the most relevant words appear.
Search by Keyword: is how you typically search web search engines. Think of important words or phrases and type them in to get results.
Advanced Search Options:
Boolean operators: Connect your search words together to either narrow or broaden your set of results.
The three basic boolean operators are: AND, OR, and NOT.
narrow your results
tell the database that ALL search terms must be present in the resulting records
connect two or more similar concepts (synonyms)
broaden your results, telling the database that ANY of your search terms can be present in the resulting records
exclude words from your search
narrow your search, telling the database to ignore concepts that may be implied by your search terms
Stop Words: Stop words are frequently occurring, insignificant words that appear in a database record, article or web page.
Common stop words include: a, an, the, in, of, on, are
Use the Advanced Search feature to add more search terms to narrow down the results.
Sometimes just choosing the right sort will cause the articles you want to rise to the top of the list, or will group like things together. Common options include:
If the database uses Boolean operators, try combining terms with or instead of and.
As long as you find one good scholarly article or book, you can look up the works cited in the footnotes or bibliography to find the sources it's based on.
Most databases offer the option of printing, downloading, or emailing your results.
A few databases require you to first save items to a folder or bookbag. Then you can print or email the folder/bookbag's content.
If you're using NoodleTools to manage your citations, many databases allow you to export directly into your citation lists. If not, many databases will give the citations and you can copy and paste them into NoodleTools. Remember to check all citations for accuracy.
For Password information, see your Media Specialist
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Databases (A-Z) |
Below are the subscription databases purchased by our school or district. |
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American History surveys American history from the colonial era and American Revolution to the nation’s rise to eminence as a global superpower, analyzing American political conflict, economic development, and changing culture and thought as they tell one continuous and continuing story of America’s history. |
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The Automobile Repair Reference Center (ARRC) database contains information on most major manufacturers of domestic and imported vehicles, with repair information starting as far back as 1945 for certain makes. |
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Britannica High School Edition explores the updated encyclopedia including thousands of articles, biographies, videos, images and websites. |
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Britannica Image Quest contains approximately three million images from more than 50 of the best collections in the world. All images are rights-cleared for non-commercial, educational use--ideal for use in lesson plans, student projects, school websites, and beyond. |
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The Digital Public Library of America brings together the riches of America’s libraries, archives, and museums, and makes them freely available to the world. It strives to contain the full breadth of human expression, from the written word, to works of art and culture, to records of America’s heritage, to the efforts and data of science. No username or password needed to access this free resource. |
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Explora for Secondary Schools is a collection of academic articles for research and instruction. Topics can be sorted by lexile and content standard. |
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Frederick County Public Libraries offers students the ability to borrow 3 print items (books or magazines), access eBooks, and use learning resources such as encyclopedias, journal articles and test prep, etc. without a library card. Username: 119829 plus your 8-digit student ID Password: student |
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Gale Products |
List of Gale Products in alphabetical order - between green bars. |
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Biography in Context is for those seeking contextual information on the world's most influential people. Provides access to authoritative reference content (including Lives & Perspectives) with periodicals and multimedia allowing users to search for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender as well as keyword and full text. |
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Opposing Viewpoints in Context provides contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues. It features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites. |
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Student Resources In Context provides contextual information on a broad range of topics, people, places, and events, including access to full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites. |
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Gale Virtual Reference Library allows researchers to instantly access thousands of electronic reference books including encyclopedias, almanacs, and other specialized resources. |
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History Reference Center features full text for more than 1,620 reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books, nearly 57,000 historical documents; more than 78,000 biographies of historical figures; more than 37,000 historical photos and maps; and more than 80 hours of historical video. |
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Hobbies & Crafts Reference Center is a collection of core, proprietary articles covering over 140 topics, as well as licensed periodicals, books and video that focus on categories commonly referred to as hobbies and crafts and is available in high-quality PDF format. Features include the ability to search the Hobbies & Crafts interface by category, view all available topics and browse popular resources related to the area of Hobbies & Crafts. |
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Home Improvement Reference Center is designed to assist homeowners in do-it-yourself home repair, maintenance, and remodeling projects. Step-by-step instructions for thousands of projects in the areas of plumbing, outdoor, woodworking, electrical, and decorating are provided in high-quality PDF files. Additionally, thousands of articles from magazines and reference books provide tips and suggestions to supplement the step-by-step project instructions. |
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MAS Ultra School Edition contains full text for hundreds of popular high school magazines covering a wide-range of subject areas including history, science, careers and much more. |
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MasterFILE Premier contains full text for nearly 1,700 periodicals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more. Also contains full text from more than 500 reference books, over 107,000 primary source documents, and an Image Collection of over 510,000 photos, maps & flags. |
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Naviance is a career and goal oriented database utilized by the Student Services Office and others to help with career and college information. You can view and sign up for college visits, see available scholarships, and request letters of recommendation, as well as many other valuable college and career services. Please see Student Services if you have trouble with login and navigation. Username: Student ID# Password: Student ID# |
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Newsela is a database of current events stories tailor-made for classroom use. Indexed by broad theme (e.g. War and Peace, Arts, Science, Health, Law, Money), stories are both student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level. To access: Teachers & Students - You must be logged into Chrome with your FCPS email and then use “Sign In” to access. Students - a teacher may also give you an access code to enter a class account. |
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NoodleTools is an online research management platform that promotes critical thinking and authentic research. Students stay organized as they evaluate information, build accurate citations, archive source material, take notes, outline topics, and prepare to write. Student access: use link at left->choose “sign in”->use your FCPS Google email to sign in->choose “create new account” and answer the questions Teacher access: go to your Google Drive->Google Apps menu (upper right “waffle”)->More-> NoodleTools then use your FCPS Google email address to sign in then create a new account by answering a few questions Quick Guide for Students Quick Guide for Teachers Video Tutorial Overview (20:56) |
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The Science Reference Center provides access to a multitude of full-text science-oriented content, including full text for hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, periodicals, and other sources. Topics covered include: biology, chemistry, earth & space science, environmental science, health & medicine, history of science, life science, physics, science & society, science as inquiry, scientists, technology and wildlife. |
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SIRS Discoverer is a general reference database for grades 1-9 with full-text articles and images. Features include science experiments, craft projects, writing activities, biographies of every U.S. President and other notable people, fiction articles, and country facts. Discoverer WebFind is a database of carefully chosen Internet resources on almost any subject appropriate for researchers in grades 1-9. |
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SIRS Knowledge Source is a collection of 6 databases for students in grade 6-12 including full-text articles, graphics, photographs, government documents, primary sources, ebooks, and previewed websites. |
