Top Databases

Here are the top databases in this subject area:

Finding databases in your subject area using the Databases link

Databases are collections of articles (or other materials), either general or subject-specific, which often include material not freely available on the open Web and give you additional tools for more comprehensive or precise searching. To get to a list of all databases offered by Cornell, use the Database Link under the main search box on the Cornell Library home page.

Use the Cornell Library Guides to find resources for your specific subject or course!

databases from main search page

NOTE: The Articles & Full Text link will search within most of the article databases (and ebooks) Cornell has access to; however, the Databases link only finds the titles of specific databases, not their contents.

Google vs. Web of Science

Google Scholar

  • Search engine of the whole internet which narrows the internet results based on machine automated criteria. 
  • Multi-disciplinary (pro and con)
  • Google-like search interface
  • Searches some full-text: you can find information that is not necessarily in the citation or abstract of an article, for instance, a detail buried in the Methods section of a journal article. If you're not having luck finding something extremely specific with Web of Science search, try Google Scholar
  • Not just journal articles (books, patents, dissertations, other material)
  • Not necessarily peer-reviewed
  • Criteria for inclusion as "scholarly" in Google Scholar results is based on publishers submitting information to Google Scholar about their web sites, and is not necessarily based on the attributes of the sources themselves. 
  • Inaccurate retrieval and variable content means that search results are not necessarily reproducible and therefore not reportable. They would not be appropriate for systematic reviews. 

Web of Science

  • Human-curated database
  • Journals are the focus of Web of Science, and they are selected for inclusion by humans based on scholarly criteria by literature review committees. Web of Science journal selection is explained.
  • Web of Science is interdisciplinary and covers all scientific areas, but it only covers what it considers to "best" journals and concentrates on English language ones. 
  • Mostly peer-reviewed, scholarly literature
  • More control over your search
  • Data about each article is entered into the database in a uniform structured way: author, title, date, journal name. This means you get accurate retrieval when searching for those things. Results can be sorted reliably by latest date.
  • Articles in Web of Science are tagged with important information about their structure, such as "review article".
  • Accurate retrieval means that search results are reproducible and reportable (especially important for systematic reviews)