These are four totally different databases. (The names are in green, just above the search bars.) Some of the differences in the menus are visible, and there are also differences in the advanced search below the crop. But most importantly (and not visible) the content of the databases is different. Very, very different. Choose your database wisely.
It can be confusing since many of our databases are produced by the same company, but all of our databases are different, even if they look the same on the surface! As they say, it’s what’s inside that counts.
And what’s inside these databases? If you really wanted to know, almost all of our databases have a tab in the menu that says “Publications”. That tab will list all of the journals, magazines, newspapers, and other sources that are included in the database. You can search that list for a specific title or a subject.
For example, if I search for “occupational therapy” in the publications tab of Academic Search Ultimate, 12 journals are listed. If I do the same search in the Medline database, 24 journals are listed. So, if I’m doing occupational therapy research, Medline is going to be pulling articles from twice as many journals!
For some databases, the differences are more obvious if you look at the options in the advanced search. In a database like Medline, you can filter your results by things like the age of the population that was studied, and Business Source Complete lets you search by ticker symbol. Neither of these options appear in Academic Search Ultimate, and you’ll find different ones in other databases too. Scroll down and take a look at the advanced search options any time you open a database for a new search. They come in handy!
So, keep in mind that all database aren’t the same. Just because you searched in one, it doesn’t mean that you’ve searched them all. You should always start your search by looking for several databases to search in. Yes, there might be some overlap in your results, but I guarantee your results won’t be identical.
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