Most databases use a controlled vocabulary. "A controlled vocabulary is an organized arrangement of words and phrases used to index content and/or to retrieve content through browsing or searching. It typically includes preferred and variant terms and has a defined scope or describes a specific domain." (Getty Research Institute, "Introduction to Controlled Vocabularies")
Most of the time, keywords is sufficient for searching effectively in databases. However, controlled vocabulary -- the official subject headings of the database -- can also be helpful. You'll find the controlled vocabulary for a particular database in the thesaurus. Sometimes the thesaurus is called subject headings, subject terms, glossary, etc. It's all the same.
Health Sciences Databases
1951 - present. Includes more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. PubMed facilitates searching across several NLM literature resources including MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and Bookshelf. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and Bookshelf. MEDLINE articles are indexed with MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Use Get it at UC to locate the full text when not otherwise available.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present), Science Citation Index (1900 - present), Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (1990 - present), and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Social Science & Humanities (1990 - present).
A peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science. Includes articles, essays, case , best practices and editorials pertaining to all areas of medicine.
Contains research summaries on medicine and health from 37,000 contributors in an effort to provide credible, accessible health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest.
Multidisciplinary Databases
A multidisciplinary database with full text content in the arts, social sciences, humanities and sciences.
(coverage varies according to journal title) Includes abstracts, tables of contents, and full text of articles from journals as well as a few book selections. Content includes the sciences, technology, medicine and social sciences.
A search engine providing access to both freely available and subscription based resources including articles, theses, books, preprints, abstracts, conference proceedings and technical .
Includes Ethnic NewsWatch: A History. Full text access to U.S. ethnic community newspapers, newsletters, magazines. Includes African-American, Arab/Middle Eastern, Asian-Pacific, European-American, Hispanic, Jewish, Native-American. Searchable in English and Spanish.
1970s - present. A full text database of publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas. Includes academic and scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, books, conference proceedings, government reports, etc.
An index to the world's literature regarding Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender issues. Contains indexing and abstracts for more than 200 LGBT-specific core periodicals and more than 360 LGBT-specific core books and reference works.
(coverage varies according to journal title) Includes abstracts, tables of contents, and full text of articles from journals as well as a few book selections. Content includes the sciences, technology, medicine and social sciences.
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present), Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present), Science Citation Index (1900 - present), Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science (1990 - present), and Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Social Science & Humanities (1990 - present).
Simultaneously searches multiple social science databases, including EconLit, ERIC (education), Philosopher's Index, PsycARTICLES, and many more.
1894 - present. A database of full-text articles from journals published by the American Psychological Association, the APA Educational Publishing Foundation, the Canadian Psychological Association, and Hogrefe & Huber.
1969 - present. Contains over 100 full text journals in areas such as applied psychology, environment psychology, language acquisition, personality and social psychology.
1806 - present. The PsycINFO database contains citations to articles in over 1,300 professional journals, conference proceedings, books, and dissertations in psychology and related disciplines. Most citations include abstracts.
1952 - present. Abstracts journal articles, monographs, dissertations, conference proceedings, other research covering sociology, social work, and related social sciences. Also includes selected web resources.
1967 - present. Over 12,000 articles from approximately 100 journal titles covering topics such as ethnic studies, sociology of sports, childhood, and consumer culture.
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