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Case Study

Based on the concept description of academic databases, explain how the design of an academic database's interface and the structure of its collection will facilitate Dr. Miller's literature search process compared to manual searching.

Case context: Dr. Sarah Miller is a new psychology researcher initiating a literature review on how social media usage affects adolescent sleep patterns. Instead of manually looking through paper records or doing a general web search, she decides to use an academic database. She enters specific keywords related to her research area to begin her literature search.

Question: Based on the concept description of academic databases, explain how the design of an academic database's interface and the structure of its collection will facilitate Dr. Miller's literature search process compared to manual searching.

Sample answer: An academic database provides Dr. Miller with a searchable computer interface, allowing her to locate relevant publications simply by entering specific search terms. The database holds a massive collection of academic works (such as professional journals and scholarly books) spanning various disciplines, which makes it much faster and more comprehensive than manually scanning individual sources or tables of contents.

Key points:

  • Searchable interface allows entering specific search terms to find relevant publications
  • Aggregates massive collections of academic works like professional journals and scholarly books
  • Allows locating relevant publications across various disciplines in a single computer system
  • Eliminates the need for manual, resource-intensive searching of individual works

Rubric: The response must demonstrate comprehension by explaining that: 1) the searchable interface allows the researcher to input specific search terms to filter results, and 2) the massive collection aggregates various types of academic works (like journals and books) across different disciplines in one computer system, eliminating the need for manual retrieval across individual physical sources.

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Updated 2026-05-26

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Research Methods in Psychology - 4th American Edition @ KPU

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