Ms. Boratyn's & Ms. Stapel's Biography Project: Introduction to Databases

• Databases contain quality information from a variety of sources
• Articles are peer reviewed and are written by experts in the field
• Databases compile resources on specific subjects or they can be more general
• Citations are often available in various formats
• Advanced search options allow user to narrow results 
• Information is updated frequently

Encyclopedia Britannica is a digital encyclopedia that contains thousands of articles on numerous topics. The following features are offered within this database to make finding information a snap:

• Articles can be adjusted to elementary, middle school, or high school reading levels
• Articles can be translated into multiple languages
• Double click on a word to get the definition
• Double click on a word to translate it into Spanish 
• Images, video, sound recordings, and primary sources accompany encyclopedia articles
• Easily locate articles related to your search
• Ability to save, print, and email articles to reference at another time
• Citations are provided in MLA, APA, Harvard, Chicago Manual of Style
• Increase and decrease font size
• Articles contain a read-aloud feature 
• Articles are mapped to Common Core Standards
• Unique features including "Explore Biographies", "Compare Countries", "World Atlas"

Biography in Context has over 650,000 biographical entries on people from every time period, including notable individuals from today. Here are some of the unique features of this database:

• Ability to search by name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates, places, and gender
• Biographies include people from every area of study
• Articles are updated frequently
• Information is pulled from reference content, audio, video, photographs, primary sources, magazine & journal articles, newspaper articles, and more
• Each individual has a Topic Page that has content related to the individual you're searching
• Citation information is provided in MLA 8, MLA 7, MLA 6, APA, and Chicago 16th Edition and can be exported to Easybib or your Google Drive
• Articles can be translated into a handful of languages
• Email, download, print, save, or share the resource for later reference

Searching a database is very different from searching Google. Use these tips to help find the information you seek:

• Spelling has to be 100% accurate
• Narrow a topic down to a few keywords
• Adjust wording in your search depending on the results you get
• Put quotations around your search phrase to limit search results
• Advanced searching is available to further limit search results

Test your knowledge of databases. Take this quiz!