Asian Studies: General Databases

The UTEP Library has nearly 400 databases for general and specific topics. From the "Articles and databases" tab on the home page, you can search for databases by topic or alphabetically by name.

Since Asian Studies is interdisciplinary, there is not a single database covering Asian Studies. Look for a database in your discipline (history, religion, business, linguistics, etc.) and search within that database for specific topics.

In the Library catalog or in databases, the more specific your search is, the better your results will be.

Combine terms with AND, OR, and NOT. Most databases provide several lines for your search with a menu for these terms. Often, if you don't specify an operator, the database assumes you want AND. For example, looking for information on rural schools in China, you could enter "rural schools" AND "China" NOT "universit*".  The asterisk * is a wildcard accepted in many databases; it allows you to do one search for variations of a word, such as university and universities.

Use a variety of synonyms and related words to find the most information on your topic. Some databases include a thesaurus or list of subject terms; this can be useful in constructing an effective search.