Introduction to Research Databases (with Quiz): Overview

A research database is a collection of information in digital format, accessible and searchable online. The Butte College Library has about 50 research databases. Each database contains thousands of digitized articles from magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals, and even reference books. Most databases collect materials for specific subject areas. Some databases offer articles on science, others have information focusing on cultures, and some on social issues or news.  There are also multidisciplinary databases that cover various subject areas. You will use different databases depending on your research needs.

Library research databases are available to their patrons. At Butte College, you need to be a current student or employee to access the databases. You will be asked to enter your MyBC login in order to access the Butte College Library research databases when you access databases from outside the campus. For public libraries, you need to have a library card and online login information to access the databases remotely.

• Research databases are available via paid subscription by the Library. Most of the content is not freely available on the Web. This includes full-text access to thousands of journals and e-Books.
• Materials from our Library research databases are mostly curriculum-related, editorial selected/evaluated/published sources that come from reputable sources, include scholarly / peer-reviewed journals, with the articles evaluated and proofread by editors and peers . That’s why most instructors prefer students using research databases over unregulated web resources for research.
• Databases offer advanced search capability to tailor a precise search for relevant results. You can also limit results to peer-reviewed and scholarly resources; or publication within a specific date range.
• Most databases generate citations of their articles in commonly used citation styles. This will make it a lot easier when you need to cite the sources for your research paper.
• You can easily email, save, print or share articles from the databases.

To access Butte College Library research databases, go to the Library home page. Click on the ‘Research Databases’ link (located under the search box).

If you know the name of the database you want to use, you can use the A to Z list to locate the link to access that database.  In fact, most students will find the databases they want to use listed on the right under ‘Popular Databases’. Some of them, like ProQuest and EBSCOhost, allow you to search at the same time multiple databases provided by the same company.

When accessing the databases from an off-campus location, you will be prompted to log in. Enter your Butte College email and password to log in.