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Summer '24 - ENGL 1301 - English - by Kara Dixon: Databases & Articles

Databases

Databases

Databases are like digital filing cabinets for storing and organizing lots of information.  Check out the library's databases so you can access academic journals (specialized magazines for scholars and researchers) and high quality academic articles.  These are the types of sources your college instructors (and maybe future employers) will expect you to use.

The "Whales" of Information

Not sure where to start?  Here are some ACC Library databases that may be helpful to your assignment. Remember, you may be prompted to log in with your ACC eID after clicking on the links. To see the complete A-Z list of ACC Library Databases, click here

Multi-Subject Databases

Academic Search Complete
Scholarly articles, news, and research on topics in most subject areas.

Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints
Articles with pro and con viewpoints from reference works, magazines, academic journals, newspapers, primary source documents, and government and organizational statistics.  

Gale in Context: College
Interdisciplinary content that reinforces the development of skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.

Newspaper Sources

The New York Times
All ACC faculty, students, and staff have full access to The New York Times website. You must first register using your ACC email at Access NYTimes. More information can be found at The New York Times: Academic Pass guide.

The Wall Street Journal
All ACC faculty, students, and staff have unlimited access to WSJ.com, WSJ apps, podcasts, curated newsletters, and more. You must first register using your ACC email at WSJ.com/AustinCC. More information can be found at The Wall Street Journal: Membership Program.

Film Databases

Kanopy
Contains more than 18,000 streaming videos, including films from the Criterion Collection, festival circuit documentaries, and TV series.
Kanopy (and not ACC) requires that you create a free account before accessing.

Swank
Curated academic streaming video collection of feature films and documentaries.

The Layered Web

To think about the Layered Web, consider the image of the ocean from surface level to sea floor.  Surface level objects (boats and fish) represent  search engines like Google and Bing and other easily retried websites like wikipedia, Amazon, Blogs, News).  Below the fish are the whales which represent databases and academic journals.  Below that is a giant squid and submarine representing the Tor network or the dark web which includes political dissidents, illegal porn, drugs, stolen credit card information, etc.)

What are databases and why you need them

Databases

Some databases you may already use: Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, Gmail.  Elements of ACC Library databases: Scholarly sources, 144 databases, organized alphabetically or by subject, build in tools.


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