What is a Database?
A database is a search-able and organized collection of data or other resources. Google is an example of a large, freely available database of URLs. Amazon.com is an example of a database of items available for purchase through Amazon.
The library creates, curates, and/or subscribes to hundreds of databases. Some of these are for books, some are for articles, some for images, some for web resources, and some are for a combination of any or all of these. When you conduct research, you are almost certain to use a database of some sort. This page is a collection of some of the best databases for secondary sources on various topics related to international development.
Library Catalog
The Cornell University Library Catalog is a database of materials held at the many libraries at Cornell University. The catalog is especially useful for finding items at the library like books, maps, videos and journals (note: you can find journals here but NOT specific journal articles).
To access the catalog, visit www.library.cornell.edu and click on the "Catalog" link found in the primary search box.
You can search by keywords, title, author or call number using the drop-down menu to the right of the search box.
The results page will list Cornell holdings and will be sorted by relevance by default. You can sort by year, author and title using the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the search results.
You can search the holdings of libraries worldwide by choosing "Library Worldwide" under the Expand your search menu on the left side. Consider Interlibrary Loan or Borrow Direct for access to non-Cornell holdings.
- To do a basic book search, go to the catalog and enter your search terms in the main search box. First do a very general keyword search for your subject.
- Using the choices in the lefthand column, narrow your search to books (under Format).
- When you find anything useful look at the record and find the subject terms. By clicking on these terms you can find all holdings about that particular subject.
- You can also use the links on the side to find books in certain date ranges or languages.
Books or Articles?
A very popular type of information that cannot be found in the catalog is an article. Since they cannot be found in the catalog, you may need to determine whether you want books, articles, or a combination of the two. Here are a couple things to consider when you're deciding between books and articles:
How recent is the topic of study? - In general, books take more time to compile and publish. As a result, for very recent topics, articles tend to be a better option. On the flip side, for historical research, particularly in a field that doesn't change much, books tend to be the better option.
How detailed do you need the information to be? - This may seem counterintuitive due to their relative size, but books tend to be more general and offer more breadth on their topic of coverage. Articles on the other hand, especially peer-reviewed research articles, can be extremely specific. To make a comparison, a book is more likely to be entitled "Environmental Policy" and offer a general overview of that topic. An article on the other hand may be entitled "Environmental Policy with Collective Waste Disposal". The article in this case is clearly focused on a much more specific topic.
There are only a few places to visit if you are looking for books and the catalog is definitely the best for finding books at Cornell University. Articles on the other hand may be available in hundreds of different databases usually organized by subject. If you are interested in looking for articles related to Indigenous peoples, have a look at the resources in the Recommended Databases Box and Other Databases to Consider Box on this page.
Recommended Databases
There are dozens of resources that you can use to conduct research for your assignment. These are some of the key resources to consider regardless of the topic you choose.
- JSTORJSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. It includes the following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science, Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
- Worldwide Political Science AbstractsWorldwide Political Science Abstracts provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy. The database is building on the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts, published by IFI/Plenum, 1975-2000, and ABC POL SCI, published by ABC-CLIO, 1984-2000. The references cited in the bibliography of the source article have been included for citations to core journals in political science, added to the database since 2001, and for all journals added since 2004. Each individual reference may also have links to an abstract and/or to other papers that cite that reference; these references are linked both within Worldwide Political Science Abstracts and across other social science databases available on the ProQuest platform.
- Sociological AbstractsAbstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Provides citations from 1963 to the present, and abstracts since 1974, to journal articles, conference papers, books, and dissertations. Subjects covered include community development, culture and social structure, demography and human biology, environmental interactions, family and social welfare, health and medicine and law, religion and science, social psychology and group interactions, welfare services, and women's studies.
- CAB AbstractsCAB Abstracts covers the significant research and development literature in the fields of agricultural engineering, applied economics and sociology, animal production, animal health, animal nutrition, aquaculture, biofuels, biosafety and bioterrorism, biotechnology, breeding, chemistry, climate change, crop science and grasslands, ecotourism, entomology, environmental science, food science and technology, forestry, genetics (molecular genetics, cytogenetics, population genetics, genomics), helminthology, horticultural science, human nutrition, invasive species, leisure and tourism (recreation), medicinal plants and pharmacology, microbiology, mycology, natural resources, land/water management, nematology, organic and sustainable agriculture, parasitology, plant pathology, plant protection, postharvest, protozoology, soil science, veterinary medicine, virology, waste management.
- Sociology Source UltimateAn expanded version of SocINDEX, including greater coverage of peer-reviewed journals, international resources and open access titles. Provides citations and direct links to the texts of journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings, some as far back as 1880. Comprehensive coverage encompassing sub-disciplines and related areas of the social sciences, including labor, crime, demography, economic sociology, immigration, ethnic, racial and gender studies, family, political sociology, religion, development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, social history, theory, methodology, and more.”
Other Databases to Consider
These are resources that may be worthwhile to explore depending on your topic of research. Please keep in mind that there are many more that you can refer to depending on your topic. Visit the following link for more complete lists of databases by subject.
- ProQuest Research LibraryProQuest Research Library, formerly known as Periodical Abstracts, is a comprehensive database available through the ProQuest online system. It indexes and abstracts general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. It comprises two components: a core list of periodicals covering about 800 publications, and 15 subject-specific modules that supplement the core list. Modules cover arts, business, children, education, general interest, health, humanities, international studies, law, military, multicultural studies, psychology, sciences, social sciences, and women's interests. Full text of many articles is provided.
- Academic Search PremierThis multi-disciplinary database provides full text for more than 8,500 journals, including full text for more than 4,600 peer-reviewed titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
- Applied Social Sciences Index and AbstractsASSIA: Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts on the Web is an indexing and abstracting tool covering health, social services, psychology, sociology, economics, politics, race relations and education. Updated monthly, ASSIA provides a comprehensive source of social science and health information for the practical and academic professional.
- ERICERIC provides free access to more than 1.2 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials and, if available, includes links to full text. ERIC is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
- PAIS InternationalContains citations to public policy literature of economics, education, government, law, international business, political science, public administration, and other social sciences. It includes references to journal articles, books, government documents, reports and pamphlets in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- EconLit with Full TextAbstracts, indexing, and full-text articles in all fields of economics, including capital markets, country studies, econometrics, economic forecasting, environmental economics, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, and urban economics.
- ScopusScopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. Delivers a comprehensive overview of the world's research output in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
- Historical AbstractsPublished since 1954, Historical Abstracts currently covers over 1,700 journals published worldwide in over forty languages. The database comprises over 720,000 entries from periodicals, with full-text links to over 135,000 articles and dissertations and masters' theses. Each year, the editors of Historical Abstracts add over 16,000 abstracts and citations, over 3,000 book citations, and over 1,200 citations of dissertations and masters' theses to the database from the current literature and publications. Additional bibliographical entries are also added to the database by editorial projects such as retrospective coverage of journal issues published prior to 1954.