If you want to do a general search for articles within a particular topic, you can select subject-specific (or multidisciplinary) indexes from our list of databases.
There are several key databases that cover almost all subject fields at Teachers College. These include ERIC, Education Full Text, Education Research Complete, and Professional Development Collection (all education-related); APA PsycNET (for psychology); MEDLINE and CINAHL Plus with Full Text (for biomedical and nursing disciplines); Academic Search Premier and JSTOR (for multiple subject areas); and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (for master's and doctoral work in all disciplines and representing and providing access to dissertations and theses from a large number of academic institutions worldwide).
Each database works differently, but most allow you to search by a variety of different criteria, including subject, author, title, and keywords. Most also support Boolean (AND, OR, NOT) searching, allowing you to find the intersection of relevant concepts as well to expand your search by using synonyms or alternative search terms.
Don’t be afraid to use the Advanced Search feature available with most databases. Advanced Search often enables you to:
- search multiple terms
- specify a date range
- limit results to full text articles only
- indicate a preference for peer reviewed articles
- specify document type
- restrict word or phrase searching to particular fields (title, abstract, subject)
- restrict search results to work appearing in particular publications