Search Basics: Database Structure
Understanding the structure of a database is as important as knowing which one to search. Databases are made up of records which represent a collection of materials.
These collections may be books in a library, articles from popular magazines, articles from scholarly journals in a particular subject area, government publications, newspapers, audio-visual materials, conference proceedings, and more.
Each record in a database, whatever the format, contains information
about a particular item. Generally, the information within a record
is divided into various fields, each of which represents a type
of information that describes or identifies that item.
Most databases may be searched by a variety of different methods. Consult the Search Strategies Module to learn more about specific types of searching techniques.