Citation Indexes list a short entry containing author, article title, publication title, and subject headings or keywords. Citation with Abstract Indexes list the citation, plus a brief description or summary of the article. They often list additional terms to search. Citations with Full Text Indexes contain the full text or the complete written article. Most full text is of recent publication date - under ten years old.
Indexes cover a certain time period.
One index might cover newspaper articles from 1995 to the present. Another index might cover articles in psychology or history from journals written in the 19th century. Be sure you know what years an index covers. Easy Rules for Selecting Indexes Check out the subject scope of the indexes listed. For example, with the topic hazardous waste sites, Sam probably doesn't want Education Index which will contain citations to articles about education, or one called PsycINFO, which will cover material about psychology.