Databases: Types
Bibliographic databases
Bibliographic databases consist of records with basic information such as author, title, publisher, date, source (eg journal title) and often a summary (abstract).
Here is an example from a bibliographic database, Art Abstracts. The information needed to find the complete Journal article is listed in the reference below:
Remember that bibliographic databases will not give you the full text of the item.
If you have found a reference and there is no link to the full text in that database:
- click on the Find it button
- find it will search other UniSA full text databases and electronic journal collections for the full text of the item
- if the full text is found a link to the content will be provided
- if there are no links to the content use the link under "additional options" to automatically search the UniSA Library Catalogue for the source of your reference eg the journal title
- if the source is listed in the catalogue, use the details in the reference to check if the Library has the year, volume and issue that you require.
If your reference does not contain either the full text or the Find it button, then you will need to open another window to search the Library catalogue for the source of your reference.