2a. Select Academic Databases

2a. Select Academic Databases#

Introduction#

When starting your search, a first step is to determine what databases you will use. There are a couple of different options available and you should choose which one is the most effective for your information needs. By the end of this chapter you should know what an academic database is, what the difference is between multidisciplinary and subject-specific databases and how to access the databases via TU Delft library.

Step 1

Know about Academic Databases
Know about different types of academic databases

Step 2

Access Databases Through the A-Z List
Access the databases of TU Delft

Step 3

Select Databases
Decide which databases are helpful for your question

Step 1: Know about Academic Databases#

In the world of research it is common that when scientific resources are shared (articles published in journals or in conference proceedings, scientific books), they become findable in one or more digital platforms, called academic databases. These platforms can have a very specific focus on a research field, or cover a broad set of scientific fields and scientific sources such as specific journals). Academic databases are a good starting point when you want to start searching for academic literature. Academic databases contain the latest research output, often published in the form of journal articles, conference papers or reviews.

There are two types of academic databases: multidisciplinary databases and subject-specific databases.

Multidisciplinary Databases#

Multidisciplinary databases contain a variety of subject areas, the topics included are very broad, ranging from Engineering to the Social Sciences. Examples of multidisciplinary databases are Scopus and Dimensions. When you search these databases, not all information you find will be relevant to your topic, but you will be able to draw from a lot of different fields to find the information you need.

The main multidisciplinary databases available at TU Delft are Scopus and Dimensions. These databases both include millions of academic research articles from a variety of disciplines. They have extensive search options, and the quality of the information included is checked by a subject specialist or harvested from publication data. They are effective for finding high quality academic information, using extensive search functionalities.

They differ slightly in how they select sources to include, and the options to search and filter information. When making your decision, you can visit the section on journal articles and conference papers in our TUlib Guide, which includes a more detailed comparison between the functionalities of the two databases.

About Google Scholar

Google Scholar is also a multidisciplinary database, freely available to use. It finds research articles by crawling the web and including findings in their database. As such, the reliability of the publications found can vary. Moreover, for conducting an extensive literature search, the database only has limited tools available. Google Scholar can be a helpful multidisciplinary database because it includes also preprints and white papers, which are a bit newer than the peer-reviewed articles included in Scopus and Dimensions. If you are working within a topic where research changes often, it can be helpful to add Google Scholar into your search strategy to stay updated (Tilburg University, n.d.)

Detailed Comparison Google Scholar versus Library-provided databases

Google Scholar vs Library Databases

Google Scholar

Library Databases

+ Easy to use because it has a simple, clean interface and requires no special search skills.

– Not so easy to use because they require knowledge of advanced search techniques.

+ Helpful for beginners searching for sources on an unfamiliar topic because it searches broadly and ranks results by citations, making it easier to find important research.

– Less helpful for beginners searching for a new topic due to complex search rules and limited coverage, making it harder to quickly find relevant research.

– Basic search functionality. Google Scholar often returns a massive number of results, but with few effective filtering options, resulting in limited control over your searches.

+ Extensive search functionality. Databases return a manageable number of results for similar searches. Their many advanced filter options offer maximum control over your searches.

– Compiled by a web crawler that searches content available on the surface web – that is, publicly accessible websites and sources.

+ Compiled by information professionals who carefully select and organize high-quality content from both the surface web and the deep web.

+ Effective for finding grey literature.

– Library databases often focus on traditionally published materials, not grey literature.

– No helpful details about the publications (e.g., subject-related terms such as subjects, descriptors or keywords) are provided.

+ Additional details are provided for each publication (e.g., database-specific terms such as subjects, descriptors, or keywords, which are assigned by subject experts).

– Google Scholar’s crawlers can be fooled, resulting in unreliable materials being indexed (e.g., articles from predatory journals).

+ Only credible materials are indexed, as subject experts review the content who are not easily misled.

Information adapted from “Google Scholar vs Library Databases” from Tilburg University is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0

Subject-specific databases#

only include research outputs on specific topics. For example a database that focuses specifically on Chemistry or Architecture. Examples are IEEE for Engineering, PubMed for Medicine and ERIC for education research. These databases often include less material than multidisciplinary databases, but by searching these you might find research highly relevant to your topic not included in the multidisciplinary databases.

Below is an overview of the main differences:

Multidisciplinary databases

Subject-specific databases

cover a wide range of subject areas

cover a specific subject area

produce more results, but they will not necessarily all be relevant to your topic

produce fewer but more relevant results

often offer enhanced search tools

often offer enhanced search tools

Examples: Scopus, Dimensions, Google Scholar

PubMed, IEEE, ERIC

To make sure you get the best results you can do a combination of one or more multidisciplinary databases with at least one subject-specific database.

Step 2: Access Databases through the A-Z list#

The A-Z list from the TU Delft library is a good resource to find the databases you need for your project. It is an overview of databases recommended for TU Delft users, allowing you to find and access a lot of information for your research. In addition to academic databases like Scopus and Dimensions, the list also includes databases for other types of information, like patents, standards, news articles and datasets.

The screencast below shows how to access the list:


"Resources to use for your projects" by TU Delft Library Education Support is licensed under CC-BY

Tip

Sometimes you may run into a paywall, a message asking you to pay to read the document, especially if you’re off campus. To avoid this, always use the Lean Library Extension. This tool tells databases that you’re a TU Delft student, so you can access content covered by the library’s subscriptions.

Step 3: Selecting Your Databases#

While multidisciplinary databases often include a large variety of research articles, a topic-specific database can deliver some additional field-specific research outputs that are not included in the multidisciplinary database. Because of this, you should try to include at least 1 multidisciplinary and 1 topic-specific database in your search strategy.

When you decide if you want to use a database in your search strategy, you can focus on the following five properties:

  1. Type of database: Is it multidisciplinary or topic-specific?

  2. Easy of use: is the database easy to navigate?

  3. Search options: how advanced does my search need to be? What are options for filtering and sorting information?

  4. Quality: how is the quality of the information on the database checked?

  5. Peers: Is the database recommended by your peers or supervisor?

You can often check the help function of a found database to get answers to these questions. Moreover, a lot information on different databases can be found on specific pages in TUlib.

Guided Activity: Selecting Databases for your Thesis Literature Search

Visit the A-Z list of TU Delft and look at the resources suggested for your specific program

Reflect on the following questions:

  1. Which of these databases are academic?

  2. Are the academic databases included topic-specific or multidisciplinary?

  3. Which databases would you include in your search strategy?

Fill in the Database section in your MSc Thesis Search Strategy

References#