Research Guides: EALC 247: Death and the Afterlife in East Asian Religions (HC): Indexes & Journal Articles

Introduction

Using databases and indexes is an excellent method for finding resources in your topic. The reason for this is because many resources are compiled together in a digital space so that you can search for pertinent information in a variety of locations with a few strokes of the keyboard. Remember to be flexible with your searches: if you can't find something right away, go back and change your search terms. Ask your subject librarian for help with search terms if you get stuck.

[The main difference between a database and an index is that a database compiles collections of electronic resources (e-books, articles, etc.) so that they are searchable in one interface; an index is a database of citations, often with information about the sources included).

Citation Searches

Usually researchers find more sources by looking at the footnotes in an article or book, but these will always be older than the publication you have in hand.
Citation indexes like the Web of Science (which includes sections for the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and Science) are set up to search for sources cited in the footnotes of journal articles as soon as they become available. This allows you to find newer articles which cite the books and articles you already know are key for your topic. By relying on connections between authors rather than subject words and by moving forward in time, citation searching can open up new avenues of research.

Google Scholar
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Search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports in all disciplines. Linked to Tripod.

Web of Science Citation Databases
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If you want to find out how many people cited an article you are interested in, put the title in the search box (choose "Title" from the dropdown menu). There is a "cited by" button once you find your result.

The results screen shows the newest articles first. Most records include a summary of contents, so that you can determine how relevant they may be for your research.

Fundamental Databases

No matter what your topic is the following databases should be searched.

JSTOR
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Provides full-text and page images from many of the top journals in most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.
Bibliography of Asian Studies
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Provides citations to journal articles, book chapters, conference proceedings, anthologies, and Festshriften on all subjects pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia. Covers 1971-present. Complete citations end with the 1991 records. Since 1992, newly published books are no longer being added.
ProQuest Research Library
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Provides citations and full-text magazine and journal articles in a wide variety of disciplines, both scholarly and popular in scope. Covers 1971-present.
Project Muse journals
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Provides access to journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Disciplines covered are humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.