Library databases expand research options

Shirley Shangguan Guest Writer

The return from October break has many students turning to the library to begin research for their term papers, many of which are due in December. Vassar’s main Thompson Library subscribes to hundreds of online databases, many of which remain undiscovered by students. Most students doing research are intimidated by the maze of virtual information that Research Librarian Gretchen Lieb likened to “walking into a jungle.” However, the Vassar Library complements its dizzying wealth of research material with a knowledgeable staff of librarians and student research interns committed to connecting students with the sources they need.

Having worked extensively with most of the databases, including ProQuest (a vendor that created New York Historical and Research Library), JStor, Project Muse, and Scopus, each member of the library staff seems to have a preferred database and research method which they are willing to dispense to inquiring students.

All databases are accessible through the Vassar College Library Web site (library.vassar.edu), where they are listed alphabetically under a link entitled “Indexes and Databases.” To research a science or social science topic, research intern Matt Hackett ’07 recommends Scopus, a full-text database for information on the social or physical sciences. But take advantage of this resource now— Scopus will only be available until the end of December because Vassar has a limited subscription. For students seeking articles from newspapers or magazines, LexisNexis Academic is a valuable tool.

Research Librarian Flora Grawbowska’s database of choice is the Open Access Initiative (OAIter). A free resource run by the University of Michigan, OAIter can be accessed on or off-campus. Grawbowska prefers this database because it finds articles that other Web sites often cannot. The articles are published by institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are usually Ph.D and master’s degree dissertations. But there is one downside: This database is slow because it is a free service for all.

Finally, art history students can look to ARTstor, a database that has an extensive collection of art images. Students can either search for the title of a famous piece of artwork or type in an artist’s name.

There are many common mistakes students make when they are doing research. Research intern Rachel Moore ’07 said that “people are sometimes looking for specific phrases instead of expanding their horizons and considering searching for synonyms.” For instance, instead of only searching for “heart attack,” why not also try looking up “cardiac arrest,” or removing unnecessary adjectives and phrases such as “in the” and “at the” from searches?

Another common mistake is that students do not realize that the ever-popular JStor, which is a multidisciplinary database, only has articles five years prior to the current year. This means that the latest articles the database can currently retrieve are from 2001. For more recent articles, Lieb recommends using Project Muse, a good resource if you are searching for literary and cultural criticisms. It is also a little less scientific than JStor.

Other handy search strategies include putting quotation marks around key words and searching for a truncated word and putting an asterisk behind it. For example, a search of “farm*,” will display any articles with key words like “farmers,” “farming,” and so forth. Another question librarians often address is how to find the full text of an article once a source has been located. The “Article Linker” button on the screen will find the full text if it is available online.

Once students collect their sources and are ready to cite them, they can utilize a tool called RefWorks, which is found under the link “Citing Sources.” On this database, citations can be formatted for almost any bibliographical style, such as E. Turabian, MLA, APA, or Chicago.

The usefulness of the library databases is rivaled only by that of the staff available to guide students through the research process. Students can receive help from research interns and librarians at the Library Reference Desk, open Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and 6 p.m.-10 p.m., Fridays from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. and Sundays from 2 p.m.-6 p.m. and from 7 p.m.- 10 p.m.