Google Scholar
If you don't see the UC-eLinks link in your results, click on Settings in the upper right, then Library Links and select University of California, Los Angeles as your institution.
Search Engines Which Search Multiple Databases at the Same Time
All three have search boxes in the first column of this page.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowSearches articles, theses, books, abstracts, patents, and court opinions from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities, and other web sites.
Publisher-Based Searches
Major online database vendors like ProQuest and Ebsco host many disparate databases, but you can use their search engines to search all the databases from that vendor at once. This technique also works for some major journal and e-book publishers that have search engines which work across all of their titles.
- ProQuest This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Search platform for over 120 databases, from the AFI Catalog to Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Includes scholarly articles, primarily in the humanities and social sciences, as well as newspapers and dissertations. - EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Search platform for over 50 databases, from Academic Search Complete to Women's Studies International. - Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Fifteen databases, plus individual journals and e-books. Includes 2011-present IEEE-Wiley books. - SpringerLink This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Immense array of books, chapters, conference proceedings and journal articles in the social sciences and sciences, published by Springer-Verlag. After searching, unclick Preview Only Content, whose materials are not under UCLA subscription. Advanced search enabled at wheel icon to right of search.
Caveats
While searching multiple databases at once can be useful, by definition it's lowest-common denominator searching. None of the advanced search techniques available in individual databases will be available. Some pitfalls to watch out for:
- Your search results may mix apples and oranges... or, less figuratively, things like articles and dissertations.
- Subject headings won't be consistent.
- Databases with full-text searching may be over-represented in your results, simply because they have more words to match on.
- Relevancy ranking doesn't work well.
For more info about the quest for a single search engine to find everything, see...