Research Methods: Using A Database Sheet

With the expansion of information available through online sources, the importance of a well-planned, methodical approach to searching is important for research projects. In fact, once you have determined your research topic, creating a database sheet will likely be one of the first things you will want to do.

A database sheet is part of a comprehensive research workflow that guides your work. It helps you keep track of what you have looked for and what you plan to look for. In format, it's simply 1) a list of online resources that you intend to consult for your research and 2) a list of the search terms that you intend to use for each of these online resource.

You can use any format you like to organize your Database Sheet (and these will vary by project), but I generally use the following headings:

1. Full Set of Databases: this includes a link to all of my library's databases, as well as any other general databases I might want to consult

2. Archival Searches: this includes links to libraries and archives that have collections I want to search

3. Secondary Documents: this is a list of databases that I want to use to search for secondary documents

4. Newspapers: this is a list of newspaper databases I want to consult

5. Books-Primary: this is a list of book databases that hold collections of printed materials such as books, pamphlets, etc. that I want to consult

6. MSS: this is a list of digitized manuscript databases I want to consult

7. Art and Material Culture: this is a list of digitized databases of art and material culture that I want to consult

Each of these headings includes a list of databases to which I have access as well as my search terms. Here is what the beginning of a search might look like for a project on riots in London during the eighteenth century:

Newspapers

17th & 18th Century NICHOLS Collection of UK Newspapers 

[x] riot*

[x] riot* AND London

[x] "Riot Act"

[ ] riotous

[ ] mob

[ ] "not dispers*"

[ ] dispers* N5 (crowd OR mob)

17th and 18th Century Burney Collection Newspapers Digital Archive

[ ] riot*

[ ] riot* AND London

[ ] "Riot Act"

[ ] riotous

[ ] mob

[ ] "not dispers*"

[ ] dispers* N5 (crowd OR mob)

I pay particular attention to the search parameters for each database, because they vary in their functionality. For example, Gale's search features (demonstrated in the Newspapers example above) are particularly robust and allow users to use quotation marks to identify words next to each other, strings to search for variable spellings of a root word, and proximity to find words near each other. I keep track of all variations of my searches so that I don't replicate work and so that I can repeat what was successful in other searches.

By organizing a database sheet at the beginning of your research project, you can thoughtfully and methodically collect materials, ensuring that you are using consistent search terms across your research. Moreover, when you discover better search terms (and you will), you can add these as reminders to go back and search in other databases.

I use a note-taking app in my workflow (Obsidian) so that my database sheet is always updated and synced between my computers. When I find a reference that I want to use through my searches, I import the reference, its url, a copy of the document, and any notes that I take on it into Zotero.

It goes without saying that research requires much more than databases searches. You will need to read through footnotes, examine context, and consult analog sources. Moreover, database searches for OCR'd text (especially manuscript text) will be incomplete. Nevertheless, database searches are essential to contemporary scholarship, and, if done thoughtfully, they will make you a more efficient researcher.