How do I choose a database for a search?

When choosing a database you should consider the different types of databases available:

Reference databases – provide bibliographic references for journal articles including the title, volume/issue and page numbers. In some cases an abstract is available. These are academic databases.
For example: Sociological Abstracts (for social sciences), PsychNet (for Psychology), MLA (for Literature, Linguistics and Arts).
Full-text databases – provide not only the bibliographic reference but also the text of the article itself. These are not necessarily academic databases and you should limit your search to scholarly/academic publications
Multi-disciplinary databases – cover several disciplines.
For example, Academic Search Premier, Proquest Central and JSTOR.
Designated databases – focus on a single discipline.
For example, Business Source Premier (for business and management), ACM Portal (for computer science), ERIC (for education) and EconLit (for economics).
Hebrew databases – for example, IHP, which is a multi-disciplinary reference database that in some cases includes full-text, or the Szold Institute Index, which is a designated database for Social Sciences and Education that provides references and abstracts of publications in both Hebrew and English.

The OU library's databases are arranged in two lists:
- Alphabetically: search by title
- By Subject: search by discipline
Choose a database on either list and click on its title to access it.
Tips for searching in databases:
- Use the Advanced Search option
- Limit your search to Scholarly or Peer Reviewed publications
- Limit your search to the relevant time period
- Define subjects by using the subject terms or thesaurus
- Don't limit your search to full-text; in some cases, even if the database does not include access to full-text, you can access it through TD-Net

Remember: