- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Research Guides
- AAE 780: Research Colloquium (Spring 2024)
- Searching the Literature
AAE 780: Research Colloquium (Spring 2024) : Searching the Literature
Selecting and Searching Databases by Subject or Type
You can access databases from the library home page (library.wisc.edu). Use the dropdown menu at the Catalog button to navigate to Databases.
There are several ways to browse and to select databases:
1) Search by the title of the database (for example, 'EconLit').
2) Use the Browse by Subject/Type page to discover databases that index literature on your research topic.
3) Visit the Top 10 Databases page to quickly access a selection of popularly-used databases.
Consider the databases listed, below, for conducting your search of the research literature.
- AgEcon: Research in Agricultural and Applied EconomicsCollects, indexes, and electronically distributes full text copies of scholarly research in the broadly defined field of agricultural economics including sub disciplines such as agribusiness, food supply, natural resource economics, environmental economics, policy issues, agricultural trade, and economic development.
- Agriculture and Environmental ScienceCross-disciplinary database of full-text content along with indexing of global literature across these fields and related disciplines.
- Agris (FAO, Agriculture, United Nations)International database of 2.6 million+ references to world literature covering all aspects of agricultural sciences and technology. Includes gray literature not often available through other publication and distribution channels.
- CAB AbstractsComprehensive database of the applied life sciences including animal and crop production, environmental impacts, nutrition, and veterinary science.
- EconLitCovers literature in the field of economics, including journal articles, dissertations, working papers, as well as books and book reviews.
- EconPapers, "Economics at Your Fingertips"Provides access to a collection of online working papers and journal articles from 1100+ archives operated by research organizations, academic departments and publishers worldwide. Majority of the full text files are freely available.
- Eldis Gateway to Development InformationDatabase of news and freely-available documents concerning international development and its challenges.
- Google ScholarMulti-disciplinary search engine to scholarly articles.
Note: Access Google Scholar through our libraries' database menu to bypass paywalls (i.e retrieve full-text through our subscriptions). Or, set your Scholar "library-link" preferences to our UW-Madison Libraries. - GreenFILEAccess to scholarly, government, and general-interest sources addressing environmental effects of individuals, corporations and local/national governments.Topics covered include climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
- ScopusLarge, multidisciplinary database that covers science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Includes tools to track, analyze, and visualize research.
- Web of ScienceCollection of databases that index the world’s leading scholarly literature in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, as published in journals, conference proceedings, symposia, and more. Includes citation network data.
- World Bank DataOnline access to comprehensive set of data on living standards around the globe--some 2,000 indicators, including hundreds that go back 50 years.
Getting to the Full Article
Follow (Find It button) or the "Find It at UW Madison" link in most databases to:
- access the full article (when available)
- determine if the journal is available in print (Library Catalog)
- request a copy of the article (PDF) if the full article is not available online (Request a Copy link)
If you already have a citation, use the Citation Search to find the full article.
Searching Tips for Online Databases
- Use AND to combine search terms; retrieve records with those terms, in any order: friends AND communication
- Use OR to combine similar search terms or synonyms: friends OR peers
- Use quotation marks ( " ") to search a required phrase: "interpersonal communication"
- Use an asterisk ( * ) to retrieve singular and plural forms or suffixes for search terms: friend* = friend, friends, friendly or friendship
- Review "subject headings" or "descriptors" to identify additional and useful search terms.
- Apply limits or filters to your results (by date, document type, or other).