Education: Using Education databases

Sometimes it can be really helpful to go outside of purely "education" databases. 

PsycINFO is a psychology database. It can be really useful for topics such as child development, motivation and mental health. All 3 Universities at Medway have access to this database.

Databases are structured, subject-specific tools for searching for information (generally journal articles, but can include other information sources).

If you are doing an in-depth search, it is better to use these rather than LibrarySearch or a general internet search engine. They can search through high-quality information more effectively.

Some databases can be accessed free on the web. Others are paid for by your University. 

Accessing databases through your university

Each university maintains a list of databases which can be accessed by students and staff. The links on these pages are checked and updated regularly.

• University of Greenwich - go to the My Learning page in the Portal and select Online databases and academic journals.
• University of Kent - Use the Digital Resources Directory from the University library webpages.
• Canterbury Christ Church University - log in to LibrarySearch and select Find Databases A-Z on the home page (left-hand column).

• Australian Education Index (available via CCCU): Provides a comprehensive index to current literature relevant to Australian education, from 1979 onwards.


• Bloomsbury Education and Childhood Studies (available via CCCU): Chapters, articles and policy statements covering childhood and education around the world.


• British Education Index (available via CCCU and Kent): Provides information on research, policy and practice in education and training in the UK. Strengths include aspects of educational policy and administration, evaluation and assessment, technology and special educational needs. It covers all aspects of education from preschool to higher education. Sources include education and training journals, mostly published in the UK. Some international literature is included.


• Child Development and Adolescent Studies (available via CCCU and Kent): A source for references to the current and historical literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21.


• Childlink (available via CCCU): A database for policy, legislation and related material (e.g. statistics and research reports) relating to children and families in the UK and Ireland. It does not search for journal articles, but for official sources of information.


• Education Abstracts (available via CCCU and Kent): Provides indexing and abstracts for hundreds of periodicals, books and yearbooks, Education Abstracts covers subjects including adult education, continuing education, literacy standards, multicultural/ethnic education, teaching methods and much more.


• Educational Administration Abstracts (available via CCCU and Kent): A really useful source for topics regarding the administration and management of educational institutions.


• Education Research Complete (available via Greenwich): Searches the contents of over 1,000 academic journals, covering areas from early childhood through to higher education.


• ERIC (available via CCCU and Kent): This database from the Education Resources Information Center is one of the best-known education sources worldwide, containing information about publications from the late 1960s to the present.


• Teacher Reference Center (available via CCCU and Greenwich): Searches across 270 journals and magazines for education professionals.

For assignments and literature reviews relating to career management, many of the education databases can be useful. In addition you may like to look at two other categories of databases:

• Social science databases, particularly those which cover psychology, often include articles relating to career management. For information on which databases are available, see the Social Sciences Databases page.
• Databases relating to a particular career area - for instance, look at health-related databases to find journal articles relating to careers in health or medicine.

While these tools are not databases as such, they do provide access to other types of information which you may find useful:

• Oxford English Dictionary (available via CCCU and Kent) : To check spellings and definitions.


• LexisLibrary Newspapers (available via CCCU, Greenwich and Kent): To read newspaper articles from UK papers.


• Proquest Dissertations and Theses (available via Kent and Greenwich): To search for worldwide Masters/Doctorate research.


• eThOS (free online): to access UK theses online (requires free registration).


• Refworks (available via CCCU): to help you manage your references. Other (free) services like this available free online include Endnote, Mendeley and Zotero.