Subject databases: Where less is more
Oberlin provides access to hundreds of subject databases, which you can access through our Databases A-Z.
Searching with Summon, our cross-platform tool, will typically produce a high number of total results, many of which may not be highly relevant to your research.
Searching in a subject database specific to your topic will typically produce fewer results, but of those results, a much greater percentage will be highly relevant to your research.
Note: To find databases relevant to your research, you can filter the Databases A-Z by Subject (e.g., French; Cinema & Media Studies), by the Type of content available in the database (e.g., Scholarly & Peer Review), or by the Vendor (e.g., ProQuest; EBSCO).
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.
- Film & Television Literature Index This link opens in a new window
Index to journals, magazines, and selected books covering all aspects of film and television research, including film theory, preservation, restoration, screenwriting, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
- MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Index to books, essays, and journal articles on modern languages, literatures, fiction, folklore and linguistics. Topics include literary theory, criticism, folk literature and belief systems, linguistics, semantics, translation, dramatic arts, and history of printing and publishing. Covers literature worldwide and includes materials in all genres and in foreign languages. Dates of Coverage: 1926 to date
- Performing Arts Periodicals Database This link opens in a new windowIndexes over 200 scholarly and popular performing arts periodicals. Also indexes a variety of documents such as biographical profiles, conference papers, obituaries, interviews, discographies, reviews and events. Dates of Coverage: 1864 to date
Subject databases: French language
The following open-access databases include indexing, abstracts, and some full text for resources predominantly but not exclusively in French.
- Cairn.info This link opens in a new window
Cairn.info provides access to 600+ French language publications in the arts, humanities, social sciences, education, and public health, including books, journals, magazines, and encyclopediae. Access to abstracts and indexing is available for all resources; open, full-text access is available for many resources.
- Érudit This link opens in a new window
Érudit is a multi-university publishing consortium, providing access to 300+ Canadian and Francophone scholarly and cultural publications, including open, full-text access to 150+ scholarly publications.
- Portail Persée This link opens in a new window
Portail Persée is a French-language resource providing open, full-text access to French scholarly publications (journals, books, conference proceedings, serial publications, primary sources, etc.) in the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
Proxied access
Access to many subject databases is available to you courtesy of an Oberlin College Libraries subscription. Rather than provide credentials at the individual user level, many of these subscription databases authenticate your access by checking for an Oberlin College Internet Protocol (IP) address. To access useful databases from anywhere via our proxy server, follow the links provided in our Databases A-Z.