General databases cover a wide spectrum of topics and subjects. You can use one of these to get you started on almost any research assignment - from art history to zoology. Since they cover so many different topics, however, they are not very in-depth in any of them. Examples of popular general databases are:
Subject-specific databases focus on only one discipline or area. They are more in-depth than general databases and include journals and resources that are appropriate only for that one area. Use a subject specific database when you are looking for true research rather than general information. Examples of popular subject-specific databases include:
Not all databases are online! There are some very useful ones that are still printed in books. You look up your main topic alphabetically and you will find a list of articles pertaining to that topic. Most of these indexes come our monthly, with annual compilations. Some of the printed material contain abstracts. Abstracts are brief summaries of the content or purpose of the article. They help you decide whether or not pursuing an article will be worth your time. Use printed indexes and abstracts for historical topics or to find older articles that have not yet been digitized. Examples of useful printed indexes and abstracts include:
Full-text databases are often the most popular with students. Full-text means that once you perform your keyword or subject search in the database, you are likely to find whole articles in the database itself. Of course, this means you save time and energy looking for the article - simply press the print command and you will have the whole thing! Most of the general databases (see above) contain a significant amount of full-text - sometimes over the half the databases. The subject-specific databases do not have as much full-text, although all the databases are linked together. There are a few databases that are ONLY full-text, such as:
