Searching Academic Databases: Saving Your References

There are a number of benefits to creating personal database accounts, particularly within databases you frequently utilize. Personal database accounts may allow you to save and organize resources, retrieve your search history, set up various alerts, and more.

You'll find an option to register on most of you favourite databases, for example:

Creating an account in a EBSCO Database (these include Business Source Complete, Academic Source Complete, ERIC, Psych Info & many others) simply click Sign In to register for an account. Online guidance here  

Creating an account in ProQuest Databases

When you are in one of the ProQuest databases (which include Sociological Abstracts, Australian Education Index, eBook Central, Dissertations & Theses, Historical Newspapers & much more) , click on the person icon and select Sign in to My Research in the upper right hand corner.

Creating an account in JSTOR Arts & Sciences: Click on the register button to create you profile

Most of the subject databases allow you to create a personal account.

Once you have an account you can permanently save articles into folders which can be customised for different pieces of work.

So for example you can create different folders for different assignments or for different chapters of a dissertation.

You can also save your search strategy - this will enable you to simply re-run at a later point rather than having to type all your search terms in every time. Some databases also allow you to create an alert - this means it will re-run your search for you at a specified frequency so you can keep up-to-date with research in your topic area.

There are a few ways to save references from your database search results. They vary slightly between different databases so check the appropriate Help Screens on your preferred database.

Options include:

Save your search results to your personal profile (if you have registered with the database)

You can also set alerts for updates (Weekly, Monthly) on your search results

Email the search results to your Email address

Save your search results to the cloud, memory stick or on your device 

Print out the results or copy/paste the details into a word document

Export the bibliographic details & PDF (if available) to a Reference Management Tool such as EndNote, which will allow you to generate bibliographies, in-text citations and footnotes in a huge range of referencing styles. This is the preferred and most useful option.

Reference or Citation Management Software allows you to collect references into your own Library saved to your device or online.

You can also add your own notes to the individual references. PDF's can be downloaded, attached to the bibliographic records and annotated. Once they are saved, they can be sorted into groups and formatted into bibliographies in a variety of referencing styles.

A "Cite While You Write" tool can also be downloaded which will allow you to create in text citations and footnotes in  your papers. 

You can also use the software to collaborate with other researchers on your research projects.

Check out the guide to available resources here