Choosing & Using Library Databases

It's easy to figure out that Sociological Collection is a good database for your sociology paper, or that you might want to use BioOne for biology. But what about the "multidisciplinary" databases that cover all topics? Here's a quick run-down of the most commonly used titles.

Database	Contents	Pros	Cons
Academic Search Premier	mix of academic, popular, and news articles mix of full-text and citation only	excellent breadth detailed subject headings good place to start when you're not sure what database to use	lack of depth
JSTOR	small selection of core academic journals all full-text	all journals go back to volume 1 tull-text searching available	lacks most recent 3-5 years of most journals poor search interface for discovering articles by topic irregular subject coverage: weak in some fields
Project Muse	academic journal articles published by university presses	strong in the arts, humanities, and social sciences	weak in the sciences
ScienceDirect College Edition	Health & Life Sciences Physical Sciences Social & Behavioral Sciences	950+ full-text journal titles in the health & sciences	article abstracts free would need to use interlibrary loan for some articles as they are available only in pay-per-view purchase