Where to Find Sources You Can Use
Background information
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowEncyclopedia used to find background information on your topic.
Resources for all topics
- Library CatalogUse the library catalog to find books and films (both electronic and in print).
- Nexis UNI (Formerly Lexis/Nexis) This link opens in a new windowLexis-Nexis has newspapers from around the world. Including the Dubuque Telegraph Herald.
- National Newspapers Core This link opens in a new windowIncludes access to LA Times, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post
- Academic SearchA general catch-all database. A good place to start, but don't forget it has a lot of non-scholarly stuff in it.
- JSTORAnother general database. This doesn't have subject headings and only searches full-text. The more words you search the fewer results you'll get.
Subject specific resources
- SocINDEXA sociology specific database, it contains just the scholarly articles about sociology and criminal justice topics.
- PsycINFOA psychology focused database.
- Business SourceTry this database for business-type articles.
- ERICWorking on an education-related research question? Try this education specific database.
- SPORTDiscus This link opens in a new windowA sports-specific database. Don't get freaked out that most of it isn't full-text. Just use the Find It button to request a copy and we'll email it to you in about 2 days.
- GreenFile This link opens in a new windowOffers information covering all aspects of human impact to the environment. Its collection of scholarly, government and general-interest titles includes content on global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more. The database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 384,000 records, as well as Open Access full text for more than 4,700 records.
- Health Source (Nursing/Academic Edition) This link opens in a new windowProvides access to over 575 scholarly full text journals in nursing and allied health.
- Humanities SourceA humanities-focused database. There are also some film and performing arts articles included too.
- Films on Demand (Films for the Humanities and Sciences) This link opens in a new windowProvides access to streaming videos in many different subjects including the humanities, social sciences, science and health, and business
Internet resources
Keywords
Search Strategies
Searching EBSCO databases
Academic Search Premier is a general database that contains both popular and scholarly articles from a variety of disciplines and sources. Great place to start if you need to confirm the viability of a topic.
The tips in this video will apply to most other EBSCO databases as well, including SocINDEX, ERIC, , and more. Subject specific databases like those may have some special features like unique limiters, but otherwise they will function the same way. The name of the database will be listed above the search bar:
Searching JSTOR
JSTOR is a general database that contains primarily full-text scholarly articles from a variety of disciplines. It differs from other UD databases in the fact that it searches the entire full-text of the articles, but has few options for limiting searching and no subject headings. This database is particularly useful when you already know some specifics about your topic.
Searching the library catalog
The library catalog contains records for where to find all of the materials we physically own in the library: books, movies, board games, etc. It also contains links to all the e-books and streaming documentaries we own. We share this catalog with libraries around the world which allows us to get print items we don't own from other libraries, but this doesn't apply to e-books.
How to get full text of an article from a database?
Some articles are full-text in the database you selected to search in. Other times it may be located in one of the other 50 databases we subscribe to. Sometimes you'll find a citation for an article we don't have immediate access to; we can usually get you these as well. This service is part of your affiliation with the university; don't ever pay for access to an article. We can typically get it for you. This will show you how to do that.