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Scholarly databases
This column—the first of the new academic year—is a letter directed to undergraduate students and the people on campus who care about their intellectual growth and development.
Dear undergraduate student,
During the course of the year, you will undoubtedly spend time in the various libraries on campus. You will meet your friends there. You will study. You will work on group projects. You may borrow a book or two or three. You may even order a pizza and have it delivered to your favorite library table—forget I said that.
Depending on the courses you take, you may be required to write one or more research papers. You can view such assignments as dreaded tasks that will put a serious dent in your social life, or you can consider them an opportunity—a chance to discover what your professors do when they aren't in front of you in the classroom. That is, you'll find out what makes them scholars. You will begin to understand what makes a research university such as UB so special. You will begin to appreciate that a research university supports, fosters, nurtures and celebrates the creation and dissemination of knowledge.
The key to this endeavor is "tuning in" to the discourse of scholarship. Move beyond the sensationalistic and popular material that the general public devours and start reading the scholarly journals that your professors use as vehicles for disseminating their research findings and critical analyses to their colleagues around the world. (Did you know that Professor X may well have much more intellectually in common with Professor Y across the globe than Professor Z next door in her office on campus?)
Your passport to tapping the reputable, thoroughly researched and well-reasoned scholarly literature of the discipline the professor assigning your paper has devoted her adult life to is the scholarly database. "Oh geez, can't I just search the Web?" you might ask. Surfing the Web only allows you to skim the surface Web. To focus on the scholarly literature related to your paper topic, you need to get to the hidden deep Web—the Web that reveals itself by searching databases. Happily, a library is not only a physical place on campus. UB has a very complete, exceptionally value-added virtual library—otherwise known as the University Libraries' Web site.
Go here to start dabbling in the world of scholarly databases by clicking on "Databases by Title" under Quick Links and selecting "Academic Search Premier." Note that you can limit your search results to "Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals" in this multi-faceted database. Or jump right into "Resources by Subject," also under Quick Links on the main page, and "Browse by Academic Disciplines." Databases leading to scholarly journal articles are found under the "Top Resources" and "Databases and Other Resources" categories.
Remember that UB librarians are available to assist you in picking the very best databases for your subject area. You can reach them by chat, email, telephone or you can stop by our information desks in the library on the way to meet your friends. You may even find researching and writing your assigned papers so intellectually invigorating, you'll find yourself enrolling one day at UB as a Ph.D.-level graduate student.
Best wishes on your journey,
—Gemma DeVinney, University Libraries