Q. There are so many ways to choose a database. What is the best way to start my research?

There's not one best way to start your research or choose a database.

From the databases tab on the Libraries Homepage you can use the dropdown menus to see all the databases we have in a particular subject (engineering, literature, etc.) or of a particular type (biographies, newspapers, etc.). If you know the title of the database you're looking for, going to the same menu and click on the letter the database name starts with to find it.

If you're trying to find your way back to a database you used in the past and you don't remember the name, but you remember it was a ProQuest database, try browsing Databases by Vendor. If you want to see everything we have on one page, the list of all our databases is the way to go.

In short, we have a lot of options because people search for databases in a lot of different ways, but there's not one best way. Use the way that works for you and try not to worry about missing something! For most of your undergraduate career, you're not going to need to be absolutely comprehensive in finding all the articles on a topic. Save that for your dissertation!