Introduction to Databases
These databases are general to specific. Bibliographies offer many citations for subject areas. Multidisciplinary databases cover a broad range of subject areas. Subject databases cover a single or group of related subjects.
Bibliographies
- Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new windowOffers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas. There are at least 50 specific topical bibliographies in each subject area. Each of these features an introduction to the topic. Bibliographies are browseable by subject area and keyword searchable. Contains a My OBO function that allows users to create personalized bibliographies of individual citations from different bibliographies.
- Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature This link opens in a new windowThe annual bibliography of English language and literature (ABELL) lists monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews and collections of essays published anywhere in the world; unpublished doctoral dissertations are covered for the period 1920-1999. The bibliography consists of 80 volumes, beginning in 1920 and issued annually. A number of items published between 1892 and 1919 have been indexed retrospectively.
- Bibliography of Linguistic Literature This link opens in a new windowEstablished as a special bibliography by the University Library Frankfurt/Main. Contains all volumes of the printed edition of BLL. It dates back as far as 1971 and references over 354,000 citations. The data base is quarterly updated with an annual growth of about 10,000 citations.
Multi-subject Databases
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
(Academic Search Ultimate classic*) A scholarly, multidisciplinary database providing indexing and abstracts for over 10,000 publications, including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, and others. Also includes full-text access to over 5,000 journals. Offers coverage of many areas of academic study including: archaeology, area studies, astronomy, biology, chemistry, civil engineering, electrical engineering, ethnic & multicultural studies, food science & technology, general science, geography, geology, law, mathematics, mechanical engineering, music, physics, psychology, religion & theology, women's studies, and other fields. *(best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches)
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowProvides page images of back issues of the core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and basic sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Users may browse by journal title or discipline, or may search the full-text or citations/abstracts. New issues of existing titles and new titles are added approximately on a weekly basis. The University of Illinois has access to the following JSTOR collections: Arts & Sciences I-XV, 19th Century British Pamphlets, Business IV, Global Plants, Hebrew Journals, Ireland, Life Sciences Collection, Lives of Literature, Security Studies, Struggles for Freedom - South Africa, Sustainability, and World Heritage Sites - Africa.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new windowFull-text articles from more than 200 scholarly journals in history and the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences. Disciplines covered include literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others. A brief bibliographic description of each title is given. Searches can be conducted across the full text of all journals in the database.
- Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new windowA collection of handbooks across a wide range of subject areas. The series includes articles written by scholars at the top of their fields.
- Arts and Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new windowMultidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. Indexes world's leading arts and humanities journals with selected, relevant items from major science and social science journals.
- Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: Humanities and Social Sciences Index Retrospective in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 offers a broad range of subject coverage in the humanities and social sciences with high-quality indexing of more than 1,300,000 articles in nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews.
Recommended Subject Databases
- Communication Source This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: Communication Source in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). Offers information from over 600 journals in communication, mass media and related fields; includes abstracts, indexing, bibliographical citations and author profiles, as well as full text from more 240 titles.
- ERIC - EBSCO This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: ERIC - EBSCO in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). ERIC is a Web-based digital library of free education-related sources of interest to educators, researchers, and the general public, and consists primarily of electronic bibliographic records describing journal and non-journal literature. The collection is to be expanded to include full-texts of articles and other electronic resources such as audio and video materials.
- Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) This link opens in a new windowThis database abstracts and indexes the international literature in linguistics and related disciplines in the language sciences. The database covers all aspects of the study of language including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Documents indexed include journal articles, book reviews, books, book chapters, dissertations and working papers.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: MLA International Bibliography in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches).Indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Proved access to citations from worldwide publications, including periodicals, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations and bibliographies.
- PAIS Index This link opens in a new windowThe PAIS Archive includes carefully selected resources to help users identify and locate information about significant political, economic, social and cultural issues affecting international and local communities, countries, governments and society. Its broad topical scope and retrospective coverage complement more specialized databases that cover the humanities, health care, agriculture, sociology, history, and many other disciplines, providing historical perspective on many of the 20th century's public and social policies. Also, the PAIS Archive database contains references to monographs, periodical articles, notes and announcements, and analytics, and the original historical subject headings have been retained within the file for enhanced searching capabilities.
- PsycInfo This link opens in a new windowPsycInfo is an electronic bibliographic database providing abstracts and citations to the scholarly literature in the psychological, social, behavioral, and health sciences. The database includes material of relevance to psychologists and professionals in related fields such as psychiatry, management, business, education, social science, neuroscience, law, medicine, and social work. Updated weekly, PsycInfo {reg} provides access to journal articles, books, chapters, and dissertations.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAbstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides citations from 1952 to the present to journal articles, book reviews, books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers. Major areas of coverage include culture and social structure; demography and human biology; economic development; environmental interactions; evaluation research; family and social welfare; health and medicine and law; history and theory of sociology; management and complex organizations; mass phenomena and political interactions; methodology and research technology; policy, planning, forecast and speculation; radical sociology; religion and science; rural and urban sociology; social development; social differentiation; social psychology and group interaction; sociology of the arts, business, education; studies in violence and power; substance abuse and addiction; welfare services; women's studies.
- Social Science Research Network (SSRN) This link opens in a new windowThe Social Science Research Network (SSRN) is a database of social science research and is composed of various specialized research networks. The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 384,300 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and an Electronic Paper Collection currently containing over 315,000 downloadable full text documents in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
- Web of Science (Core Collection) This link opens in a new windowWeb of Science indexes core journal articles, conference proceedings, data sets, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
Alternate version: Women's Studies International in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). Provides citations and some abstracts to the core areas of Women's studies. Includes material from Women studies abstracts (1984-present), Women's studies bibliography database, Women's studies database (1972-present), New books on women and feminism (1987-present), Women of color and southern women (1975-present), The history of women and science, health, and technology: a bibliographic guide to the professions and disciplines (1970-1995), Women's health and development: an annotated bibliography (1995), Women, race, and ethnicity: a bibliography (1970-1990), WAVE: Women's audiovisuals in English: a guide to nonprint resources in women's studies (1985-1990) and the MEDLINE subset on women (1964-2000). Covers journals, newspapers, newsletters, bulletins, books, book chapters, proceedings, reports, theses, dissertations, NGO studies, websites and grey literature.
Dissertations & Theses
- Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship (IDEALS) This link opens in a new windowIDEALS collects, disseminates, and provides persistent and reliable access to the research and scholarship of faculty, staff, and students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Faculty, staff, and graduate students can deposit their research and scholarship - unpublished and, in many cases, published - directly into IDEALS. Departments can use IDEALS to distribute their working papers, technical reports, or other research material.
- ProQuest Dissertations and Theses This link opens in a new windowPQDT is a collection of citations to dissertations and theses worldwide from 1861 to the present day. Full-text is available for most of the dissertations added since 1997 and some of the older graduate works. PQDT is also the official digital dissertations archive for the Library of Congress. Also included are the citations to British and Irish dissertations and theses (PQDT: UK & Ireland) since 1761 and abstracts for content since 1986.
Note: UIUC masters theses are not in PQDT. They are only found in IDEALS or in the library catalog.