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Within an academic database, each publication—such as a journal article or scholarly book—is represented by an individual record. These records typically contain essential publication details, a summary or abstract of the content, lists of descriptive keywords and standardized index terms, and a bibliography of other works cited by the publication.

Academic Database Record

A database search term is a specific word or phrase entered into a computer interface to retrieve relevant records from an academic database. Because databases contain millions of records, users often need to experiment with different combinations and specificities of search terms to narrow down their results to highly relevant articles.

Database Search Term

A database index term is a standardized phrase assigned to an academic database record to categorize the content of a publication. Because these terms are standardized—such as indexing all research on male-female differences under “Human Sex Differences”—they are especially helpful for locating relevant literature consistently, regardless of the specific keywords the original authors used.

Database Index Term

Once a relevant record is located in an academic database, the next step is to obtain the complete article or book chapter. While some database interfaces provide direct links to full-text copies or allow users to save and print records, other works must be accessed through a university library's physical shelves or journal subscriptions. When researchers need help finding a specific hard copy or accessing a journal, they should consult a librarian.

Accessing Full-Text Research Literature

In an academic database record, keywords are descriptive terms used to summarize the specific content of a scholarly work, such as an article or book chapter. Unlike standardized index terms, these keywords are often author-supplied or highly specific, meaning researchers may need to experiment with different word combinations and levels of specificity to successfully locate relevant literature.

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