A Database is a searchable collection of information sources, such as articles, books, and videos. Through the library, you have access to over 100 databases to find information for school or personal uses.
It's true - you can find an amazing amount of information using Google, but many of these sources are not appropriate for college work. Some websites even post false or misleading information on purpose. To find the kind of scholarly resources you need for many college projects, you may have to wade through thousands of results to weed out the bad, irrelevant, and inappropriate ones. And even then, you may find that what you need is not available for free.
The databases gather articles from reputable sources such as journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers, and reference books. College coursework requires high-quality information sources. Scholarly articles and research are a means for scholars and experts to communicate what they do and learn to others who are interested in the subject. The publishing process serves to ensure the quality of information.
There are ways to create your searches in databases that will lead to much more accurate results than what you can achieve in an Internet search engine such as Google. For more information, see the sections on designing your search strategy and on the different databases. You can save valuable time in your busy schedule.
While you can often find articles through an Internet search, access is blocked until you pay. A single article from a reputable journal costs an individual purchaser $35 or more. As a student at Northeast State, you have access to the articles in the databases through the library. Not only will you have the type of sources your teachers require, but you won't have to pay anything for them.
You can get into the databases at a time and place that works for you. Using the first part of your stumail email address - everything before the @ - as your username, and your MyNortheast password, students can log in to use the databases at any time, from any computer or device with an Internet connection. While we would love to see you at the library as often as possible, we realize that your schedule may mean that you have to do most of your research when we aren't open. The databases provide access to research materials 24/7, allowing you to find sources at a time and place hat works for your life.