Key questions for determining the scope of a database:

  • What kinds of documents are in here? (Journal articles, magazine articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, statistical tables, images?)
  • What discipline(s) are included? (Sociology, music, chemistry, many?)
  • What years are included? (The present, 1960-1998? 1960-1970 in one file and 1970- in another?)
  • What elements of a source are included? (The whole article (full-text) or just a citation? Publisher and title of journal? Subjects or descriptors? Key words?)

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