Skip to Main Content

Evaluating Information

What is a database?

What are Databases and Why You Need Them by Yavapai College Library on YouTube

Search Engines Academic Databases

• Free searches of the entire internet yielding a multitude of results in a multitude of formats

• Searching is free, but access to the results may not be free or may require an email address or other personal data
• Databases are general or discipline-specific, and include articles, books, images, and more
• The college pays for access to databases
• Authority cannot be easily verified
• There is no review process
• Sources are curated by experts
• Peer-reviewed sources are easily identifiable
• Sources usually are not indexed
• Websites might move, change, or be deleted
• Information is indexed, evaluated, and updated regularly.
• Permalinks usually are included to take you back to the source.
• Ranking results is based on advertising or sponsorship, and algorithms (location, previous searches, previous purchases, etc.).
• Advanced searching yields results that are based on relevance to search terms, and there is no advertising
• No search tools to filter or refine search results, and to help write citations
• Database tools filter or refine searches, and citation tools generate citations in the appropriate style (APA, MLA, etc.)