Using Library Databases
The most difficult problems on how to use library databases are what database to use and how to search in the database. For JI students, the first database accessible is the Shanghai Jiaotong University Library. Sometimes it can provide the link to the article you are searching for, but mostly there are just titles and you may look for them at offline libraries. In fact, our library has provided access to other useful databases and there are also some commonly used databases helpful to your research.
How to Access Databases Through Shanghai Jiaotong University Library:
Now let me introduce some databases that you might use:
EBSCO is a large website combining numerous databases. By entering the website through our library, you can find the “SHANGHAI JIAOTONG UNIV” logo and you can choose which database to use——often we choose ASC. Now you can search normally. EBSCO mostly provides journal articles but not every article can be read immediately.
JSTOR is a database providing both journals and images. When searching for your target, you can choose to search exactly for author, title or publication name. When searching for images, there are more categories like creator, title, subject, work type, style or period, location, culture and material. Everything you find in this website can be downloaded with a digital version.
Google Scholar is the largest and the most commonly used database and it’s convenient to use. You can judge and cite the resource easily in Google Scholar. However, using Google Scholar may cause some problems. For instance, some articles in resources are not easy to find. In this case, if you can find the PDF or HTML button in the right of the resouce, you can simply click it and access it. However, if you are limited to accessing the document on the website, you need to find the doi number and search for it in the sci-hub. Additionally, some articles in Google Scholar are too old to use, so you need to select the range of the article in the left of the website. Google Scholar provides the quickest citation of three styles with the “cite” button, but you have to be careful because sometimes it is not in the accurate format.
Effective Search Strategies
How to search for articles in the database effectively is also a difficult thing. You need to type your key words to search, but sometimes it may find something useless and inaccurate.
Tip #1: You can use quotation marks to quote your key words, and it will search more effectively.
Tip #2: If you are not clear about your key words, you can try to use AI and ask it to give you the key words, and usually AI will teach you how to search effectively.
Tip #3: You can learn how to use databases from AI, and it’s convenient and effective.