This page will help you learn more about the NCC Library databases. Find out which ones will be the most helpful for your ENGL 101 assignments. Learn how to search them to find articles from newspapers, magazines, journals, and other types of publications.
Databases are online collections of information sources that the library pays and subscribes to so students can use them. They often contain publications that are not easy to find or access elsewhere online.
Our Databases list shows all the databases the library subscribes to, listed in alphabetical order by name. It includes descriptions of the type of information you will find in each.
Once you are on the list, if you aren't sure which database to use for your topic, you can filter the databases by subject and database type to find ones that will work best for your needs. The libraries' video on Database Selection shows how to navigate the Databases list.
When working with the library's subscription databases, you may be prompted to log in with your NCC account (Workday / student id number and password) in order to use our databases off-campus.
Our databases can contain a lot of different types of information sources, such as scholarly sources, peer-reviewed sources, journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper articles, reference articles, ebooks, chapters or sections of books, streaming videos, and other media and publications. Each d
atabase might include different publications and sources than the others do.
EBSCO Discovery Service is a special search tool found on the library's homepage and on the A-Z Database list that tries to search all of our databases and resources (including SpartaCat) at once. When using this tool, your choice of search keywords and application of search filters (especially Full-Text) is very important. Do not hesitate to switch keywords or mix and match and try different combinations of keywords. If you are getting many results that are not useful, consider trying a smaller, more directed search in a single database.
These general reference databases are great to use to find background information about your topic. The articles within them can be useful for either informative/explanatory essays and papers or argumentative/persuasive papers and speeches.
The current/controversial issues databases below are useful for finding information on current events, controversies, and issues facing society and provide varying points of view on each topic. They are especially helpful for argumentative/persuasive essays and papers, but often can be used for an informative/explanatory ones as well.
Researching a controversial, persuasive, or current topic? Use this source to find long reports covering popular topics. Each report covers the background of the issue, current happenings, looking to the future, and pro/con arguments.
If these databases don't work for your topic, try using the Databases by Category list to find one that may be a better fit. Or try a search in EBSCO Discovery Service.
EBSCO Discovery Service is a special search tool on the library's homepage that searches all of our databases and resources (including SpartaCat) at once.
If you use this tool, your results will include articles from databases, eBooks, streaming videos, and information on print books at both the Bethlehem and Monroe Libraries. You're likely to get a lot of results. Be sure to pick your search keywords carefully (see the Starting Your Research page of this guide for help with search keywords). Apply search filters and options (especially the Full Text option) to help make your results more manageable.
See the EBSCO Discovery Service tutorial for a brief search demonstration.
Search the Publication Finder tool by journal title to see if we have access to a specific journal or other periodical.
If we have access, the tool will tell you which database our access is through, the scope (date range) of our access, and link to the appropriate database. From there you can browse each publication for the articles published in a particular issue.
You can also browse journals by subject using this tool or search within a specific journal to see the articles that have been published in it.
It is especially useful if you find a great article from a journal focused on a particular subject and want to see if that journal has published other related articles.
Watch our video tutorial for search demonstration of Publication Finder here:
You can find more video tutorials for our databases on the NCC Libraries YouTube channel.
If you don't see a video on a channel for a database or resource you want to use, you may be able to find one from another channel by searching the rest of YouTube for the database name.
If our databases aren't enough, there are some similar resources available for free online:
You may discover an article that would be useful for your topic, only to find that the library does not have full-text access to it in our databases. If that happens, you can submit an interlibrary loan request, and we will see if another library that has the book would be willing to lend it to us to lend to you. Plan ahead - interlibrary loan articles may take a few days to arrive. Reach out to a librarian if you need help with the request.