History: What is a database

Periodicals are publications issued at regular intervals, such as newspapers, magazines, and journals.

Databases give you the information needed to find the article

• Citation – although the index may not contain the article itself, the citation will provide information that you need to find the article.
• Abstract – It may also include an abstract or summary of the article’s content.
• Full text – sometimes an index will link to the complete text of an article.

Is your topic general, cross-disciplinary, or currently in the news?  

Is your topic in a particular subject area? 

Then use a subject index which specialize in a particular subject, the articles are generally from scholarly peer reviewed sources.Examples are IEEE (Engineering), Avery Index (Architecture), and Business Source Premier (Business & Management). 

●  See the NJIT Library Database page, and click on a subject for recommendations. (scroll down to see results)

●  Search the Research Guides by subject to see which databases are recommended for that discipline.

A database will show you articles that match for your search terms. 

Otherwise, you would have to look through each issue of each periodical for articles on your topic.  Some databases also include books, or references to books, conference proceedings, and other types of reports.  Sometimes the databases include the full text of the source referenced.