General Purpose databases include a little bit of everything. No matter what your topic is, you'll probably find a few articles in these databases. But because they cover most every subject area, they don't cover any one area very deeply.  These are best for popular sources (newspapers and magazines), interdisciplinary subjects, and getting started.

There are dozens (and dozens) of databases that focus on just one or two subjects.  You can use these subject-specific databases to really dig deep into the literature of that field.  They will mostly include scholarly journal articles, but some also include scholarly books, dissertations, patents, and more.

Use the drop-downs below to see the "Best Bet" databases for that subject area.