Libraries subscribe to a variety of electronic databases (sometimes called periodical or article databases) that give students access to articles and other materials without charge. Your library has access to databases that can lead you to articles in periodicals such as newspapers, magazines, and scholarly or technical journals. Most databases provide abstracts of articles, which can provide enough information to determine if a source is worth pursuing. General databases cover several subject areas; subject-specific databases cover one subject area in depth.

Note: Don’t confuse the name of a database (such as ProQuest) with the title of a journal indexed in the database (such as Journal of American History).

General databases

The information in general databases is not restricted to a specific discipline or subject area. You may find searching a general database helpful in the early stages of your research process.

Academic Search Premier. An interdisciplinary database that indexes thousands of popular and scholarly journals on all subjects.

Expanded Academic ASAP. An interdisciplinary database that indexes the contents of magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals in all subject areas.

JSTOR. A full-text archive of scholarly journals from many disciplines. Unlike most databases, it includes articles published decades ago but does not include articles from the most recent issues of publications.

LexisNexis. A database that is particularly strong in coverage of news, business, legal, and political topics.

ProQuest. A database of periodical articles, many in full text. Through ProQuest, your library may have access to articles in subjects such as nursing, biology, and psychology.

Subject-specific databases

Libraries have access to dozens of specialized databases, each of which covers a specific area of research. To find out what’s available, consult your library’s website or ask your reference librarian. The following are examples of subject-specific databases.

Business Source Premier. A database of journals and magazines in business and economics, including management, finance, accounting, and international business.

EconLit. A database that provides citations to articles in scholarly journals in economics.

ERIC. A database offering education-related documents and abstracts of articles published in education journals.

MLA Bibliography. A database of literary criticism, with citations to help researchers find articles, books, and dissertations.

PsycINFO. A comprehensive database of psychology research, including abstracts of articles in journals and books.

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS). A database that indexes books, journals, government documents, statistical directories, and research reports in the social sciences.

PubMed. A database offering millions of abstracts of medical research studies.

Science Citation Index. An interdisciplinary database covering more than eight thousand journals in the sciences.