Non-Indexed Databases and Search Engines
Non-indexed databases and search engines (e.g. Google) generally gather their citations and related materials from multiple sources. A Basic search examines available fields to find the entered terms. Some, like Web of Science, are totally dependent on how the author (or journal) has described the article. Databases that pull from a indexed databases (e.g. USC Libraries search and ProQuest) may also offer access to the indexed terms (e.g. MeSH) applied by those databases. See Non-Indexed Examples for tips on searching specific databases.
Recommendations:
- Use a variety of keywords and connect them with Boolean operators
- Use quotation marks when searching for a phrase in a non-indexed database
- E.g., using "heart attack" means searching for that specific phrase somewhere in the database - and using the phrase without quotation marks, will retrieve Dr. Heart writing about attack dogs
- Look for an Advanced Search option to use Boolean and other terms provided by the database
USC Libraries
For information on the non-indexed USC Libraries search, visit:
- Search Help & TipsUSC Libraries Search (Summon), Users Guide
Full Text Databases
Some databases allow full text searching. For academic journal databases, this means the word(s) you enter could be only in a footnote or a reference. Not all fields in all databases can be searched. Use Advanced Search options (when available) to search additional fields.
Databases that search the full text include:
- Access World News (NewsBank) This link opens in a new window The electronic editions of record for valuable local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources, all in one easy-to-search database with a world map.Over 4,500 news sources are included. Each provides unique coverage of local and regional news, including companies, politics, sports, industries, cultural activities, and people in the community, as well as a distinctive focus offering a variety of viewpoints on local and world issues. Paid ads are excluded.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a digital reference library that places a world of factual information at your fingertips. Containing a selection from 645 high-quality reference books from the world's leading publishers, Credo Reference is the ideal place to start any research.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window A growing full text collection of core social science, humanities, and science journals and books.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new window MUSE provides access to the complete content (including all images) of nearly 500 current scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences.
- PubMed Central This link opens in a new window Free digital repository of publicly available full-text scholary journal articles in biomedical and life sciences. Articles are free to read without a subscription.
Multi-Database Searches
Sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between a database and a search engine. ProQuest, for example, includes over 130 individual databases - and options to search across two or more of the underlying databases. Generally searching across multiple databases (equivalent to a search engine) requires both keyword and phrase searching. A subject search depends on the subjects applied within the underlying databases. In ProQuest, if you cannot locate a Thesaurus or subject heading hierarchy, then the database is probably not indexed.
Search engines that allow searching across multiple databases include the following. See Non-indexed Examples for details on searching tips for these databases.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new window Filtered Google Search finding scholarly journal articles, books, citations, and case law.
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window ProQuest Central serves as the central resource for researchers at all levels.
- Scopus This link opens in a new window Large abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Includes bibliometrics tools to track, analyze and visualize research.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window Interdisciplinary collection of journal articles, conference proceedings, and books. Collection of seven online database: Conference Proceedings Citation Index, Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Index Chemicus, Current Chemical Reactions, and Book Citation Index. Coverage is 1900-present.
Google can be a powerful research tool that helps you find policy and legislative data, statistics, policy reports, and more. The trick is knowing how to get Google to find the good stuff for you.
Know your domains: The end of a web address (URL), after the dot, is the domain. For example, www.usc.edu, edu is the domain. You can use domains to filter out your Google results.
Common domains are:
- edu -- educational sites
- org -- non-profit sites
- gov -- government sites
I know that many statistics are available on government sites, so I can have Google search for sites that end in gov.
Google domain filtering:
Add the words "site:.gov" (or org/edu/com/etc.) to the end of your Google search. Use a semicolon to separate domains.
The search below is asking Google to find sources about HIV infections in Los Angeles, and limiting my results to websites that end in .gov or .org -- in other words, I only want results from government or non-profit organizations.
.