Any casual search of the internet will bring back a large number of news resources and results. Why should we then use databases? There are several good reasons:
1) Database results are more authoritative. On average an article emanating from a newspaper or magazine is more likely to be accurate in its facts than one coming from a blog or personal website.
2) Filtered results: Databases will only bring back results from particular types of sources (for example newspapers, trade magazines, periodicals, journals and / or government reports). An Internet search will bring back results from a wider array of sources often duplicating results, bringing many unnecessary items.
3) Paid resource: Web searching for articles in newspapers, periodicals, trade magazines and academic journals will often bring results that require that the user pay for full access. For instance searching an older Globe and Mail story may bring the title, author and first paragraph of the story. If you want to see more you will have to pay. By using University of Regina databases you have access to this paid content.
