Prince George's Community College

301 Largo Road
Largo, Maryland 20774

Tools for the Topics: Selecting Sources
Module 2

Online Databases

Online databases store collections of information (e.g. books, periodicals, audio, video, images) in an electronic format. Databases can be searched by using a computer and entering terms and various types of search strategies.

One type of online database is the subscription electronic periodical index. These fee-based databases can be interdisciplinary with citations, abstracts, and full text articles from magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers. An example of this type of database is ProQuest. Commercial databases may also be scholarly and subject oriented with articles, journals, books, and Web sites such as the Literature Resource Center.

Other types of databases that exist on the Web are developed by businesses, educational institutions, organizations, government agencies, and individuals. The databases are generally not fee-based and contain various types of publications such as scholarly papers, reports, etc., but do not index proprietary resources such as periodical articles.

Online databases will be covered more in depth in the module on Using Online Databases.