Which Database Should I Search

Which Database Should I Search?

Cal State Fullerton students have access to many databases that provide articles from business-related scholarly journals, trade publications, newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals. Which is the right one for your research needs? To help you decide, here’s a comparison of the four article databases most frequently used by business students:

ABI/Inform Complete:

One of the best sources for scholarly journals in business. Check this database first when you are starting a research paper and need reliable sources.

Advantages

Disadvantages

· In addition to scholarly sources, ABI/Inform also has a large collection of articles from magazines (Business Week, The Economist), local business publications (Orange County Business Journal), Trade & Industry Publications (Advertising Age, WWD), and newspapers (Wall Street Journal, New York Times).

· ABI/Inform is very easy to search. All articles have extensive records. Which describe the article based on subject, product, industry, company, and many other variables. All variables in the record may be searched. For instance, If I want articles about outsourcing jobs to India. I can search for outsourcing in the Subject and India in Location.

· Most articles contain abstracts. Abstracts are brief summaries of the articles that you can read to help you decide whether the article is useful to your research. Abstracts can make the research process go much more efficiently.

· Most articles are in full-text, and include all tables, charts, images, and graphics.

· Although the total amount of sources is less than other databases, all sources are focused on topics related to business.

· Articles, particularly from newspapers and popular magazines, may appear in full-text closer to publication in other databases such as Lexis-Nexis and Factiva.

· The total amount of sources and articles is less than other databases such as Lexis-Nexis and Factiva

Lexis-Nexis Academic:

Lexis-Nexis is best used when you need the very latest information on your business topic. It is also very useful as a supplement to what you find in other databases or when you have a very narrow topic.

Advantages

Disadvantages

· Lexis-Nexis provides a huge amount of articles from over 5,000 sources, particularly from newspapers. Lexis-Nexis provides articles from newspapers, magazines, and trade & Industry publications from all over the world, all in full-text.

· Lexis-Nexis is timely. Many articles appear in Lexis-Nexis on the same day they are published.

· Lexis-Nexis places limits on how many articles you can retrieve at once. If over 1,000 articles are returned, you will be forced to narrow your search down.

· Lexis-Nexis provides access to news transcripts (CNN, NPR, CNBC, etc) which often include interviews with CEOs and other key executives.

· Lexis-Nexis only allows you to search through the text of each article. There aren’t any subject terms or abstracts to make searching for and identifying useful articles easier.

· There are not very many scholarly journal articles available in Lexis-Nexis.

· You can not search through the entire database at once.

· You must select what type of article you want before searching. For instance, if you are looking for magazine or journal articles on outsourcing jobs to India, you must first select General News, then select Magazines and Journals.

· Tables, charts, images, and graphics are not included.

Factiva:

Use Factiva when you need to find articles on a very narrow topic, need to supplement what you find in other databases, or need up-to-the-minute articles on your topic.

Advantages

Disadvantages

· Factiva has an enormous database of articles from well over 5,000 periodicals.

· In addition to searching through the text of the articles, Factiva has subject, industry, region or company variables that may be used to limit your search. Factiva calls this feature Intelligent Indexing.

· All articles are in full-text format.

· Factiva searches its entire database at once and does not place any limits on how many articles you can retrieve at once. Your search must be very narrow or else you could end up with thousands of articles.

· Citations and abstracts are not available.

· Most tables, charts, graphics, and images are not available.

JSTOR:

Use JSTOR when you need scholarly research articles on your topic.

Advantages

Disadvantages

· JSTOR provides exact copies of articles from scholarly journals. All information from the journal, including tables, charts, images, and graphics is included.

· JSTOR has an enormous archive of journal articles. If you need historical information on your topic, JSTOR is the place to go.

· JSTOR is a cross-disciplinary database. For instance, if you search for articles about outsourcing jobs to India, you will get articles from publications on business, economics, political science, law, sociology, and even geography!

· Each article in JSTOR has an abstract, a summary of the article to help you decide if it is useful to your research.

· You can search through the full-text of the articles, or limit your search to just the title and abstract

· JSTOR does not contain many current issues of its journals. It serves mainly as a historical archive of journal articles.

· Searches are limited to the text, abstract and basic citation information (title, author, publication, date, etc.). Subject and other variables are not included.

· JSTOR only includes scholarly journals. Articles from newspapers, trade publications, and magazines are not included.

Prepared by Robert Sage, rsage@fullerton.edu
An administrative page of the Paulina June & George Pollak Library at California State University, Fullerton.
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Last Updated: 18 Marchl 2007.