Academic Search Complete is a good place to begin general research. It is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 7,900 full-text periodicals, including more than 6,800 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 11,900 journals and a total of more than 12,000 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Gale Virtual Reference Library is a good place to begin general research it offers full text access to encyclopedia articles, dictionaries, handbooks, and guides.
Readers' Guide Full Text is a database containing comprehensive indexing and abstracting of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada, plus the full text of selected periodicals. Full-text coverage begins in January 1994 for most titles. If you are attempting to find citations older than 1983, go to the Readers' Guide Retrospective, an index that goes back to 1890 in its coverage.