If you are searching for a topic or subject rather than a specific article you might like to search one of our databases. These often focus on a particular subject area or discipline and reduce the amount of results you receive from irrelevant subjects.

Databases are collections of resources such as journal articles and conference papers, and also sometimes book chapters and reports. If you are doing a literature search or systematic review they are a key resource to use.

There are two main kinds of database:

• Bibliographic - they won't show you the full paper straight away, but you can often read an abstract and see the author details. You'll need to check with Get it @ King's if the Library has access to the journal article
• Full text - will let you open and read the article directly from the list of results

If a database lists something you want to read, look for a button that says 'Get it at King's' This will take you to Library Search and to the full text, if the library subscribes to the journal, or prompting you to request the item via Inter Library Loan. 

I can't see the 'Get it @ King's'

If the 'Get it @ King's' button is not available then you should use Library Search to see if the article or book is available through another database.

New to using Library Search?

Find out how to use Library Search to find the books and items you need in the Getting Started With the Library - Undergraduates and Taught Postgraduates section of this guide - look for the navigation button in the top left corner!