This paper uses a hypothetical application entitled "VAPORTRAILS" to examine how an integrated application can be used to solve the problems of search and retrieval from a range of qualitatively different databases, and the organization of the resulting information into a personal database resource. In addition, four general classes of databases are described which are important to the scholar's work environment. The use of "Intermedia," a hypertext system under development at the Brown University Institute for Research and Scholarship to address some of these integration problems, is then considered. An environment which includes the current Intermedia applications (InterText, InterDraw, InterVal, and InterSpect) and the overall Intermedia linking mechanism is described. Several extensions are added, including VAPORTRAILS and a new kind of link that will use search or look-up applications from a selected point in one document to the appropriate information in another data collection. Ways of searching in an Intermedia web are suggested, including the ability to access block information in the Intermedia documents in a manner analogous to the system used by VAPORTRAILS to access and manage citation information. One figure is provided. (Author/EW)