Introduction

Databases

Database Selection

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Database Selection

No one database can contain all the information that you need for your research. To locate a comprehensive mix of information for a report or project, you may need to search in a number of databases. 

When you are deciding which database(s) to use, things to consider include:

• Subject coverage - what are the subject areas that the database covers, is it a specific area or multidisciplinary
  
  
• Publication coverage - does the database include scholarly material, books, is it full text or bibliographic
  
  
• Date range - review the date coverage of the database to ensure that you are searching within the time range that you require for your report or dissertation.
  
  
• Update frequency - how often a database is updated varies from daily, to monthly, quarterly or yearly. How often updates occur and the time lag between updates can affect the retrieval of results.
  
  
• Geographical coverage - Some databases include only materials published from a particular country such as the United Kingdom or the United States. These databases may not include information about Latin America or the Caribbean.