Databases by Subject
Carleton provides access to databases that specialize in scholarship in specific disciplines. Use the links below to find databases by academic subject.
Good Starting Places
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
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(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
A massive index of literature from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Also offers cited reference searching to see who has cited a particular document. 1898 - current.
Note: To do cited reference searching, click on "cited reference search," fill in an author's last name and publication date, figure out which of the resulting list of citations match the work you're looking for, and then "finish search" to see who has cited that work. - ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
(Searches through citations and the full text)
A core collection of full text articles in the sciences and social sciences, as well as reference works, handbooks and book series. Covers 1997 - current. - ProQuest Agricultural & Environmental Science Database This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and abstracts)
This tool searches across the AGRICOLA, ESPM, and EIS databases, and it provides full-text titles from around the world. It includes scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more. Covers 1960-current. - ProQuest Biological Science Database This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and abstracts)
Includes the renowned Biological Sciences, MEDLINE, and TOXLINE databases and provides full-text titles from around the world including, scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications, and more. Covers 1946 - current. - ProQuest Natural Science Collection This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
(Searches through citations, subject indexing, and some full text)
Includes the Agricultural & Environmental, Biological Science, and Earth, Atmospheric & Aqua Databases. It also provides full-text articles from scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, government publications and more. Covers 1946-current.
Evaluating Sources
Who is the author? What do you know about them?
What type of article is it? Original research? Meta-analysis? Review of research?
Which journal is it published in? What is the reputation of that journal?
What year was it written? How current is it?
What is the evidence? Are there tables, charts, equations, notes, and citations? Does the evidence come from the authors' own research or from other works?
What is the purpose of the article? Is it informative? Persuasive? Is it alerting or providing detail?
Who is the audience? What assumptions does the author make about her or his audience? What level of detail is included? What kind of terminology is used and is it defined for the reader?
