Library:Research Skills For Engineering Students/Module 05/Page 02

As mentioned, Google and Summon are great ways to get started on your research. But it can be difficult to sift through all the results, especially if you want scholarly resources from a specific subject area.

To find the best resources on your topic, you should search in academic databases, in addition to Google and Summon.

Databases provide access to journal articles and conference proceedings, as well as other scholarly resources. You get more relevant and focused results, because they have better quality control and search functionality.

You should choose a database based on subject area, date coverage, and publication type. Interfaces vary between databases, but the search techniques remain essentially the same.