Skip to Main Content

GEOL 100: Earth, Science and Society

What is a Database?

What is a database?

The library databases contain journal articles and other scholarly information. Sometimes a database will contain the entire journal article, and sometimes it will only contain an abstract. Databases are searchable by subject, keyword, author, and more. They can be seen as the tool that you use to search and access scholarly publications, such as peer-reviewed journal articles.

Finding Journal Articles

Best Bets for GEOL 100

Searching

Need to do a more specific search in a database? See this video and this video for more informationon about searching databases by keyword.

(geothermal OR thermo* OR steam* OR "hot springs") as Subjects AND (energy OR electric* OR power) as Subjects

Constructing a good search

Not finding anything?

Accessing Articles

How to Access Articles

You may notice that the database doesn't always provide you with a PDF of the article -- sometimes it will just give you an abstract. In that situation look for the "Find it @ W&M' button, which will take you back through our library website to get you access to the article. If it's something that we don't have, you can request it by interlibrary loan. They'll send a PDF of the article straight to your inbox, typically within a few days!