WestSearch is a great place to start to see all the offerings from the library on your topic! However, sometimes you are being inundated with TOO MUCH STUFF when using a great big search like WestSearch. When you're ready for the next step, you should try going directly into a database and searching for articles on your topic. 

General Databases

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.

An example of a popular general database is:

• Academic Search Premier

Subject-Specific Databases

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:

• ERIC - for Education
• PsycInfo - for Psychology
• Business Source Premier - for Business
• Social Work Abstracts - for Social Work

Full-Text Databases

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 guaranteed to find whole articles in the database itself. Of course, this means you save time and energy looking for the article - simply download the article 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:

• JSTOR - a backfile of scholarly articles (nothing newer than 5 years old)
• Lexis-Nexis - a database of legal information and worldwide news