Research. Research. Research. This one word can send a wave of nausea through a college student’s stomach as it brings to mind the endless hours spent slaving over a 7+ page paper that never seems to get done. Additionally, our worlds are overflooded with facts and statistics as the information age increasingly takes hold of our lives. I recall my first day of classes at Baruch when I took time out to meander aimlessly through the school’s five story library, pacing up and down the various aisles, my eyes scanning the dizzying array of books lining the shelves. I read the names of journal publications I never heard of before and noticed articles dating back from the 1800’s. While I felt a sense of empowerment knowing that the college was accommodated with a wealth of information, I couldn’t help but feel at the same time overwhelmed. A image of myself sitting in the library in the late hours of the night leafing through a large stack of books skimming through pages of fine print, streams through my mind sending me into a state of dizziness. Luckily for us frustrated college students, Baruch offers the highly accessible and easy to use Bearcat Search Database System. According to its’ website, Bearcat is a tool that lets you easily search at the same time: over 100 library databases, the library catalog, selected web resources (Google Scholar, Scirus, etc.). For any student with a limited amount of time needing to extract relevant sources concerning an obscure topic, Bearcat is an absolute goldmine. The database system is multi-faceted with many tips and techniques required to optimize your engine search, some being more specific than others. In all honesty, many of the search tips reiterated by the speaker of the workshop were not retained in my memory, partly due to their tediousness. How could I hope to remember when it is absolutely necessary to utilize Boolean connectors like AND, OR, NOT? Nevertheless, the workshop was not a waste in the least. At the time of the workshop I was in the midst of crafting a lengthy research paper, a task that was both daunting and frustrating. In a rush to find the required sources for the paper the speaker searched for an article I had been tirelessly looking for, and at the same time used it as an example for the rest of the group on the proper way of employing the basic search engine. I was doubtful that the article could be retrieved given the obscurity of the publication and the fact that it was dated back to 1980’s. But what do you know, the article fortunately appeared in full text. I sat back relieved at having found one more additional source that would fit perfectly in my paper and speculated on the intricacies involved in condensing millions upon millions of sources of information into one database. I recall my high school teachers recounting their college experiences to us where research entailed library hopping across the city in order to find a measly article. College students today are indeed fortunate to find themselves in the presence of the information age.