LibGuides: ENC1101/ENC1102 Plant City and MacDill: Online Library Resources

What is an Online Library Database?

Online Library Databases

Online library databases are searching platforms that allow users to locate resources from many different types of sources. Some of those sources will be:

Academic journal articles
Newspaper articles
Magazine articles
Streaming Videos
Images
e-Books

This LibGuide page is designed to introduce you to how to use a library database in order to find the most effective resources for your academic needs.

HCC Library Database Access

HCC Librarians provide access to our collection of databases through the Database Finder.

Notice the pull down menu options along the top header of the Database Finder. This provides you with an option to resort based Subject, Type of Resource (article, video, image, etc.) and Database Vendor. The best pull down menu option to start with is Subject.

See the boxes on this page for database recommendations.

Library Databases and Why You Need Them

A Yavapai College student explains the benefits of using library databases for research.

Reference Databases

Reference resources define and provide background information on a topic. Reference resources can also provide more subject terms and keyword search terms to help narrow and focus results.

Biography (Gale) Biographical reference database covering international figures from all time periods and areas of study. Funded by statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
Britannica Academic (Britannica) Includes encyclopedia articles, full-text journal and magazine articles, primary sources, multimedia, and other resources and tools for your research. Funded by FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
Fergusons Career Guidance Center (Infobase Publishing) Comprehensive career research database. Includes profiles of more than 2,900 popular jobs in 93 industries. Also includes Career Opportunities News, a newsletter about colleges and the job market. Funding source: FLVC group license
Health and Wellness (Gale) Information on a wide range of health-related issues, from current disease and disorder information to in-depth coverage of alternative medical practices. Funding source: State Library of Florida. Here is a tutorial.
Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford University Press) Searchable online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. Includes the complete text of the Oxford English Dictionary's twenty-volume Second Edition and three-volume Additions Series. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
Oxford Reference Online Premium (Oxford University Press) More than 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference from Oxford University Press. Click Subject to access volumes under each category. Click Reference Type to select subject reference, dictionaries, timelines, and more. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
Salem Online (Salem Press) Online reference materials across a wide spectrum of subjects. Funding source: HCC Here is a tutorial.
U.S. History (Gale) Content from periodicals, reference works, and primary source documents relating to U.S. history, organized into a portal for easy research. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.

Subject/Topic Specific Databases

The resources found in these databases cover specific subject categories such as:

Business
Education
Literature
Health and Medicine
History
Science

Bloom's Literature (Infobase Publishing) Examines great writers, important works, memorable characters, and influential movements and events in world literature. Funded by FLVC group license.
Business (Gale) Full-text coverage of all business disciplines including accounting, economics, finance, marketing, management, and strategy, as well as business theory and practice. Funded by State Library of Florida. Here is a tutorial.
Business Source Complete (EBSCO) Full-text access to many peer-reviewed business journals, covering areas such as marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Funded by Statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
Education Source (EBSCO) Full-text journal articles, books, conference papers, and more, covering early childhood through higher education—including educational specialties such as multilingual education, health education and testing. Funded by statewide allocation.
Educator's Reference Complete (Gale) Full-text articles from periodicals and reports for educators, administrators, and education students. Funding source: State Library of Florida.
Health Source: Consumer Edition (EBSCO) Sources on many health topics, including medical sciences, food and nutrition, sports medicine, childcare, etc. Funding source: Statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
History Reference Center (EBSCO) Magazine articles, e-books, primary source documents, biographies, photos, maps, historical film and video, and more, covering U.S. and World history. Funding source: Statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
Science (Gale) Reference information, journal and magazine articles, and other media, covering all fields of science and organized into a portal for easy research. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
U.S. History (Gale) Content from periodicals, reference works, and primary source documents relating to U.S. history, organized into a portal for easy research. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.

Streaming Videos

Access to video content has become easier and more common. The streaming videos databases cover multiple topics and provide access but not limited to:

News TV episodes
Documentaries
How To Instructions
Interviews
Performance - music, theatre

Academic Video Online (Alexander Street Press) Academic videos on wide range of subjects—sciences, arts and humanities, business, social sciences, and more. Funded by FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
Docuseek
Docuseek streams independent, social-issue and environmental films to colleges and universities. Fundied by HCC. Here is a tutorial.
Films on Demand (Infobase Publishing) Videos covering a wide range of subjects across the spectrum of college and university curricula. Include public performance rights for use in educational settings. Funding source: Statewide allocation
Music Online: Listening (Alexander Street Press)
Audio and video that spans all time periods, many musical genres, and hundreds of thousands of artists, composers, choreographers, and ensembles. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.

General Article Databases

General Article databases are great place to start for new academic research users. These databases provide easy access to several different types of publications on multiple topics:

Academic journals from professional, scholarly publications
Magazines
Newspapers

Academic OneFile (Gale) Full-text journal articles, many peer-reviewed, and reference content, discussing sciences, technology, health sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and more. Funded by State Library of Florida. Here is a tutorial.
Academic Search Complete (EBSCO) Full-text journal articles, many peer-reviewed, discussing sciences, technology, health sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and more. Funded by statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
General OneFile (Gale) A broad, general-interest database of articles from more than 8,000 periodicals, most in full text. Funding source: State Library of Florida. Here is a tutorial.
Power Search (Gale) Searches Academic One File, General One File and Gale eBooks at the same time.

Newspaper Databases

America's News (Newsbank) Current and archived newspaper articles from around the United States, Funded by statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial and a user guide.
Florida News Sources (NewsBank) Search major Florida newspapers, including Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Petersburg Times), The Tampa Tribune (which ceased publication in 2016), and others. Explore Florida history through local news, events and people. Search current and archived issues with full-color newspaper pages, full-text articles and content only published online. Funding source: Statewide allocation.
New York Times - Historical (ProQuest) Articles from The New York Times dating from 1851 to 2019. Funding source: Statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
Wall Street Journal
HCC students, faculty, & staff must set create a free personal account for online access to WSJ.com and the WSJ app. Funding source: HCC site license

Pro/Con Databases

The following databases are good to use when you need to find resources that present both sides to an issue. These types of resources are usually needed for a Pro/Con or what is called a Argumentative essay.

Opposing Viewpoints (Gale) Viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary sources, website links, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles on a vast range of social issues and current topics. Funding source: Statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.
Issues & Controversies (Infobase Publishing) Offers a wealth of current topics research information, including pro/con discussions of hot issues, newspaper editorials, numerical snapshots of key topics, photos and graphics, and selected historical source documents. Funding source: FLVC group license. Here is a tutorial.
CQ Researcher Plus Archive (Sage) Reports on timely issues, from social to environment, health, education, and science. Produced by experienced journalists. Funded by statewide allocation. Here is a tutorial.