Start your research here!
Reading 3-4 articles from the resources below will help you to better understand the scope and important issues of your topic. As you read about your topic, you will discover which issues you will want to focus on in your paper.
Best Bet: Credo Reference reference articles from over 1,100 titles, with particular emphasis on encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and handbooks.
Britannica Academic Online Encyclopedia
Britannica Academic Online is a general knowledge encyclopedia with over 120,000 entries covering a myriad of topics. This multimedia source also includes videos, primary sources, and journal articles. Browse the homepage to view all that this resource has to offer.
CQ Researcher provides in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day.
African American Experience (ABC-CLIO) Developed with the guidance of African American librarians and subject specialists, The African American Experience is the widest ranging and easiest-to-use online database collection on African American history and culture.
Global Road Warrior highlights information about the cultures, geography, and people of the world's nations.
Oxford: Very Short Introductions offer concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects. Expert authors combine facts, analysis, new insights, and enthusiasm to make often challenging topics highly readable to develop your core knowledge.
Controversial issues have multiple points of view. Back up your claims with articles, video, statistics, maps, and more on a range of hot-button issues.
Best Bet: Gale In Context Opposing Viewpoints
Differing viewpoints (be aware of bias) on social issues found in magazine, newspaper, and scholarly journal articles as well as video, audio, maps, statistics, reference sources and more. Here is a snapshot of a search for immigration and refugees:
Each includes a Pro/Con section where experts present their viewpoint on the issue. Here is the Pro/Con page from the same article, "Immigrants and the Economy":
You can search Discover! to finds book and articles on your topic from one search box. Discover! searches both IvyCat (a database of all the materials in the South Bend and Elkhart libraries, including over 100,000 ebooks) and all our EBSCO and JSTOR databases for articles and books on your topic. You can link out to ProQuest Research Library and other databases from Discover! to find more information (see right column of your result set) on your topic.
You also have access to dozens of subject-specific article databases. Explore all our databases at our A-Z List.
Best Bet: Discover!
Discover! searches thousands of articles in a number of research article databases (Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, etc.), as well as IvyCat, a database for all the materials available in our Library (books, ebooks, videos, etc.).
ProQuest Research Library
ProQuest Research Library, like Academic Search Premier, is a general academic database. However, it is very strong in the social sciences and a must-use database for research in the social sciences. The same searching principles apply, though the layout is a bit different. You can access ProQuest by linking out from a search in Discover! (see above), from the A-Z List on the library home page, or by clicking here.