LibGuides: Archer Library Student Orientation: Database Resources

Getting Started

Multidisciplinary Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Complete, designed specifically for academic institutions, is the world's most comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database supporting high-level research for academic study. It provides access to more than 5,800 full-text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals.
Academic Search Complete includes rigorous curation and indexing of open access (OA) journals, which has resulted in a growing collection of 6,734 active global OA journals. It also offers more than 75,000 videos from the Associated Press.
APA Psycinfo This link opens in a new window
Contains over 3 million records devoted to peer-reviewed literature in behavioral sciences and mental health. Includes abstracts of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, books, and dissertations. Journal coverage includes international material selected from over 2,500 periodicals in dozens of languages.
Dates covered: 1920s-present (plus some older content).
Article First This link opens in a new window
An index of the items listed on table of contents pages of over 12,000 journals.Covers articles, editorials, letters, and other items on topics covering a broad range of interests.
Dates covered: 1990-present Not included in OneSearch.
Electronic Journal Center (EJC) This link opens in a new window
OhioLINK’s Electronic Journal Center (EJC) is the first place Ohio’s college students and researchers go to find the latest journal articles. It contains over 32 million full-text articles in 10,000 journals from large publishers to small presses.
Content is funded through a combination of OhioLINK central funds and member library contributions. Coverage spans the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Many of the library research databases contain citations linking to full-text articles in the EJC. Dates covered: 1800s-present.
Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Provides contextual and authoritative articles, research reports, videos, statistics, and opinion on hundreds of current social issues. This cross-curricular resource supports science, social studies, current events, and language arts classes. Informed, differing views help learners develop critical-thinking skills and draw their own conclusions.
Drawing on the Greenhaven Press series and frequently updated, it provides viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text articles (from magazines, academic journals, and newspapers), primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites. (Gale)
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. Collections include peer-reviewed scholarly journals, literary journals, book chapters, research reports, and primary sources.
Journals include the full archival run up to the moving wall established for each journal; most recent issues are not included.
MasterFILE Premier This link opens in a new window
MasterFILE Premier contains full text for general reference magazines and publications covering a wide range of subject areas including business, health, education, general science, and multicultural issues
It also includes an extensive image collection of more than 2 million photos, maps, and flags. Content includes 1,579 full-text magazines and journals, and 55,000 full-text primary source documents.

News & Events

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Chronicling America is a website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
NDNP, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC), is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers with descriptive information and select digitization of historic pages
Newspaper Navigator This link opens in a new window
Database consists of extracted visual content for 16+ million pages of digitized historic American newspapers in Chronicling America; search and explore historic newspaper photographs.
Contains 1.56 million photos from the Newspaper Navigator dataset, consisting of all extracted photos in the dataset published between 1900 and 1963 (Library of Congress).
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for hundreds of national (U.S.), international and regional newspapers. In addition, it offers television and radio news transcripts from major networks.
Provides complete television and radio news transcripts from CBS News, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, and more.
Points of View Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Points of View Reference Source covers hundreds of topics, each with an Overview (objective background/description), Point (argument) and Counterpoint (opposing argument).
Each topic also features a Guide to Critical Analysis which helps the reader evaluate the controversy and enhances students’ ability to read critically, develop their own perspective on the issues, and write or debate an effective argument on the topic.

About this Page

What is a Database?

Library research databases are an organized collection of resources, such as scholarly journals, periodicals, peer-reviewed articles, newspapers, eBooks, or media, available to users online. They are a powerful search tool providing students the ability to modify results and find credible information.

Partnering with OhioLINK, Archer Library has purchased access to database collections from vendors such as EBSCO, ProQuest, Springer, and Wiley. They are proprietary resources, meaning availability is restricted to Ashland University and OhioLINK users. For this reason, students are required login with their AU credentials to view and use from off campus locations.

General Reference

Dictionaries & More

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
Guide for researchers in any discipline to the meaning, history, and usage of over 500,000 words and phrases across the English-speaking world.
OED entries describe the origin, meaning, and history of each word by analyzing evidence of usage from the earliest known to the most recent. Currently there are almost 850,000 definitions in the dictionary, and around 15,000 definitions are added each year.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Oxford Reference is the premier online reference product, spanning 25 different subject areas, bringing together 2 million digitized entries across Oxford University Press’s Dictionaries, Companions and Encyclopedias.
Of the several hundred reference works on the site more than 60 are accessible based on purchase by OhioLINK. Accessible content is indicated with an open padlock. (Oxford University Press)
Oxford Research Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
In-depth, peer-reviewed summaries on a range of disciplines including business and management, climate science, criminology and criminal justice, education, environmental science, international studies, literature, politics, psychology, and religion..
These encyclopedias provide authoritative, objective overviews of significant topics. (Oxford University Press).
Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
For students and adults alike, the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia database indexes over 25,000 records, covering an array of topics.
The database contains various images, offers brief biographies as well as information in a variety of subject areas. FThis database is updated annually.
World Book This link opens in a new window
A suite of online research tools that delivers encyclopedia articles, primary source collections, educator tools, student activities, pictures, audio, and video, complemented by periodicals and links to related websites.
Features separate components designed for use by students of different levels plus speakers of foreign languages. All databases are editor-screened for authenticity and age-appropriate content.

Archer Library

Archer Library Student Orientation: Database Resources