TCC Databases

To successfully complete TCC Databases

READ this blog post.
DO and THINK about the information in the "Learn More About" activities.
LEARN by completing the Hands-On Activities. Your total time commitment is about 30 minutes.

Introduction to TCC Databases
Databases can be collections of a lot of different types of sources. The majority of TCC's nearly 200 databases are used for finding scholarly journal articles, but we also have searchable collections of images, videos, e-books, magazines, newspapers, dissertations, book reviews, primary sources, statistics, encyclopedias, and literature.

The TCC databases are listed multiple different ways to make it easier to find what you're looking for: by subject, alphabetically by database title, or by content type (or format).

Our most popular database is Academic Search Complete. It has mostly full-text access to a wide range of magazines, newspapers, and journals with a general scope (it is not a subject-specific database).

Most databases can be accessed on JUL computers without a login. Off campus, students must use their MyTCC login to access TCC databases. Some databases, however, like Occupational Outlook Handbook and Virginia View (both career information databases) are free to the public and do not require a login from any computer.

Learning More about TCC Databases (10 minutes)

1. Browse the subject list of databases. Hover your mouse over the title of a database to read its description. (5 minutes)
2. Read the Off Campus Access page. (5 minutes)

Hands-on Activities (20 minutes)

1. We also link to many of our databases on subject guides (sometimes referred to as LibGuides). Pick a few of the guides from this page and look under the Databases tab (if you choose the Careers guide, the tab is labelled "Research" instead of "Databases") to see which ones are linked for each subject. Consider why those databases were chosen for that guide. (10 minutes)
2. Visit Academic Search Complete and search for a topic that interests you. How many results did you get? Use the limiter options on the left side of the page to limit your results by date, or by type of resource, or some other criteria. How many results do you have now? Choose an article that looks interesting and click on its title. Look at the type of information you are shown about the article. Use the link on the right side of the page to email the article to yourself. (10 minutes)

Get credit!

After you have completed the activities in this post, please fill out this form.