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Indigenous Information Sources: Databases

This guide will help you to locate and search effectively for Australian Indigenous Information Sources.

Search subject-specific and specialist databases to find information pertaining to Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Databases and OneSearch

OneSearch is the best place to start searching for journal articles, book chapters, newspaper articles and videos. 

OneSearch results for online articles, books and videos, etc. provide links that go to databases in which the full text or videos are hosted. 

Think of a database as a collection of online journal articles and resources for which the library pays a subscription for you to access.

You can also search directly within a database.

Why search in a database as well as OneSearch?

  • Subject-specific databases can give you more targeted results relevant to your search topic.
  • Many databases have more nuanced search options. 
  • Some databases don't have their resources discoverable in OneSearch. 

Go to the Find databases page to browse through a list of subject-specific databases.

Types of databases

Some databases provide good full-text coverage allowing you to link directly to the full article or book within the database platform. 

Others are indexing databases - they help to you to find information through the indexing only of titles and abstracts and will generally link you directly to a "Find It@UWA"  link button to help you to identify where you can get full-text online or print access.

Take a look at our Databases sections in the next tabs for a selected list of databases useful for Indigenous Australian research.

For tips on important databases and web sources on Indigenous Health, see our Indigenous health resources page.

The UWA Library subscribes to a number of quality databases specifically focused on Indigenous culture and issues.

The Informit database hosts distinct 'collections' within its of Indigenous Peoples subject area. For example:

TIP: Click on the 'i' information icon to learn about the subject coverage of a specific database.

NOTE:  The majority of these databases are indexing databases, not full text.  Look for the full-text  icon link to find these in OneSearch. 

For some Indigenous Studies units, you will be required to include primary sources in your assignments.

Primary sources are the original document, object or data that you are investigating.  (Secondary sources are the interpretation, analysis or commentary about a primary source.)  

Our General web resources page in this guide also provides links to peak Indigenous organisations, government sites, libraries and archives that offer primary source materials.

For historical primary sources, take a look at our Sources for historical research guide and our Historical News guide.


OneSearch

Sign in to OneSearch to access our full range of resources.

 

Use OneSearch to search for:

  • UWA print collection
  • ebooks
  • journal articles
  • exam papers
  • newspaper articles
  • conference proceedings
  • law reports
  • music scores
  • and more

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