Databases differ from websites in the following ways:
- Authority: Easy to determine. Most databases have a scholarly/peer-reviewed filter or contain only scholarly literature. There is an inherent trustworthiness to databases.
- Intention: Typically educational or informational. A shared intention with educators, journalists, and publishers.
- Traffic: A manageable number.
- Access: Restricted. Databases deal only with published information; information that originally appeared in print: magazine and journal articles, books, etc. Through the library's paid access, this information is made available to the user for free.
- Relevance: Focus by subject provides more relevant information and less time is spent wading through superfluous fluff.
- Searching: Numerous advanced search features can limit by: publication type, date, language, document format, scholarly/peer-reviewed status.
- Authorship: Verifiable and clear.