Subject Guides: COMP 317: Case Studies in Professional and Technical Writing: Case Study Databases

What is a Database?

Databases are compilations of information in an organized and searchable system.

An example of a database you're probably quite familiar with is Netflix. Netflix is a database of movies. It's a bunch of movies organized in a way that's very logical. It's organized and broken down by subject areas such as Comedies and Action films. These subject areas are a way of helping you search for information. You can also type in keywords into Netflix such as a title, actor's name, or director's name in Netflix and that information will pop up in the form film results.

Like Netflix, we have databases full of specific kinds of resources for you to find information in. In this class, you're specifically looking for case studies. Below you'll find links to a variety of databases where you can kind case studies in different subject areas.

This video gives examples of how to find case studies in four databases, APA PsycInfo, ASM Failure Analysis Center, Business Source Complete, and Sage Research Methods. More databases to find case studies in are listed below.

Databases with Case Studies

ABI/INFORM Complete
ABI/INFORM Collection provides coverage of companies and business trends around the world.
To find case studies:
1. Go to the Advanced Search page
2. Enter your keywords
3. Go to the box labeled "Document Type," and select "Case Study."
APA PsycInfo
Covers the professional and academic literature in psychology and related disciplines including medicine, psychiatry, nursing, sociology, education, pharmacology, physiology, linguistics, and other areas. Includes more than 3.7 million records.

1. Search using your keywords
2. Click search
3. Filter your results to "clinical case studies" under "Methodology" in the left side menu
Business Insights Global
Includes case studies from a wide variety of journals and institutions. After opening the database
1. Navigate to "advanced search"
2. Enter your keywords into the search box
3. Then scroll down to "search limiters" and select "case studies" under "content type"
Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete contains over 2,000 active, business-related periodicals covering topics such as management, economics, finance, accounting, marketing, banking, and international business. This includes full text of management journals such as Harvard Business Review*, Academy of Management Journal, and the Journal of Marketing.

1. Click on advanced for search screen
2. Type your keywords or subject
3. Look to the bottom left of screen, under "publication type" select "case study"
Computer Science
This collection provides unmatched discipline-specific coverage spanning thousands of publications, many in full text. Subject coverage: Computer Science; Information Systems; Computer Security; Database Design; Software Development; Web Commerce; LANs; WANs; Intranets; Internet.
To find case studies:
1. Go to the Advanced Search page
2. Enter keywords
3. Go to the box labeled "Document Type," and select "Case Study."
Engineering Case Studies Online
Database of key engineering failures and case studies. Browse by case
Sage Research Methods
Provides an overview of research methods (quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods) across the social and behavioral sciences. Includes SAGE book and reference material on research methods, and editorially selected material from SAGE journals. Also includes a searchable collection of case studies of real social research, commissioned and designed to help users understand abstract methodological concepts in practice.

To browse case studies:
1. Select "Cases"
2. Select a subject area you are interested in (ie. Anthropology, Education, History, etc)
3. Browse cases

To search:
1. From the main landing page, enter your keywords and click search.
2. in the left hand menu, select "cases" under content type
ASM Failure Analysis Center
The ASM Failure Analysis Center features over 1,000 case histories along with authoritative handbook information on failure mechanisms and analysis methods.

Relevant mostly for engineering and materials sciences.