There are two types of databases: general databases and subject databases.

General databases cover many subjects and often contain both popular and scholarly periodicals.

Sometimes general databases are used at the beginning of the research process because they help you narrow a topic. They are also used when your topic doesn't fit into a specific subject, or if you want information that isn't too technical.

Examples of general periodical databases are:

Academic Search Complete	multidisciplinary index for scholarly journals and magazines with over 5,500 full-text periodicals .
America's Newspaper Collection	indexes fulltext local, regional, and national US newspapers.
OMNI File Fulltext Mega Edition	multi-subject database providing full text articles.