Ohrstrom FAQ: Citation

Much of the content is written by academics or industry professionals.

Authority is often easy to determine on library databases since many databases have a scholarly/peer-reviewed filter or contain only scholarly literature. 

Information on the Web is seldom regulated, and authority can be difficult to verify.

As creators' expertise is varied, and content is not limited to professional, scholarly literature, authority (and, along with it, reliability and credibility) can be wide-ranging and unreliable.

A database generally has a subject focus (drama, history, physical sciences) and/or format (journals, books, newspapers),
which often means researchers can find more relevant information with less time wasted sifting through unhelpful sources.

Much of the information on databases comes from more authoritative, or quality-controlled, sources.

Lack of subject focus can result in numerous irrelevant hits – or “junk” – to wade through in web search engines (like Google and Bing). Unless you are using a subject-specific search engine, expect “everything and the kitchen sink” in the results. Quantity ≠ Quality

Databases deal only with published information; that is information that originally appeared in physical or electronic publications --magazines, journal articles, books, etc.

Databases are more stable than the Web, meaning that the resources you use are less likely to be deleted or removed.

Through the library’s paid access, all of this information is available to school community members for free. 

Web information often lives and dies on the Web
and can come from anyone with Internet access.

While access to websites is often free, the content within may not be. Unless it is Open Access resource, information from published sources--magazines, academic journals, books, etc.--usually has a paywall so users must purchase access to it.