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Choose a Person to Research
These library resources can help you identify a person to research for your project. You can also browse all our biography databases or our encyclopedia databases.
- Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new windowThis database provides contextual biographies on over 600,000 people throughout time as well as present-day. Biographies also contain links to magazines, newspapers, web pages, and multimedia resources. Updated daily.
- American National Biography This link opens in a new windowThis database offers more than 19,000 biographies of deceased American men and women, from different walks of life and different times in history who have helped shape the United States. Updated quarterly.
- Britannica Academic This link opens in a new windowThis database combines the Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, and primary sources from reputable websites chosen by Britannica editors. Creating an account allows for saving articles, media, etc. for later viewing, as well as resource packs that help keep research organized. Updated daily.
- Dictionary of Literary Biography This link opens in a new windowThis database provides in-depth, richly illustrated encyclopedia articles on over 200,000 authors from all times and places worldwide, discussing their lives and works, as well as the historical, cultural, and social contexts in which they lived and wrote.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowThis database provides full-text articles from over 600 reference sources, as well as access to a wide range of information sources that include images, audio, and video. Topic Pages are informative overviews, and Mind Map assists narrowing and focusing research topics to improve database searching.
- Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new windowOxford Reference is a collection of Oxford University Press's dictionaries, companions and encyclopedias, spanning 25 different subject areas. Articles vary from general reference to in-depth discussion of specific topics. Subject areas include the sciences, classical literature, music, quotations, religion, social sciences, as well as law. Updated throughout the year.
Find Books
The Books tab on the library homepage allows you to find books and ebooks in our collection. Watch a video about how to use the books tab.
After you have conducted a search, filter options appear to the left under "refine results." You can use the format filter to limit your results to e-books (available online) or books physically in the library.
How to Find a Book on the Shelf
For in-depth help, check out our guide to finding books in the library.
How to Search Beyond SCU Library
If you can't find a book on your topic at the library, you can search across libraries around the country in WorldCat.org. Then, place a request for us to borrow the book you choose through InterLibrary Loan.
Find Articles in a General Purpose Database
The Articles tab on the library homepage is one place you can search for individual articles from academic journals, newspapers, and magazines. Watch a video about how to use the articles tab, or about accessing articles you find.
After you have conducted a search, filter options appear to the left under "refine results" and include:
- Peer reviewed
- Format
- Year of publication
Other General Purpose Databases
You might also wish to search these other general purpose databases, which cover a number of subjects and topics.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowThis multidisciplinary database provides access to over 5,600 active full-text journals and over 6,500 open access journals. Covers topics that range from business, education, social sciences, humanities, engineering, and science. Coverage varies, updates also vary.
- ProQuest Social Science Premium Collection This link opens in a new windowThis database provides full-text articles and abstracts from scholarly journals from 1871 to present on anthropology, criminology, economics, education, international relations, library science, linguistics, political science, public policy, social work, sociology, and more.
Find Articles in a Subject-Specific Database
The library has hundreds of specialized research databases, which are collections of resources based on subject, topic, or type of material.
Browse the library's databases list to choose a subject-specific database that fits your research topic.
Some suggestions of places to start are listed below, but ask a librarian for help identifying where to search for your topic.
- Diversity Collection This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to three full-text databases, GenderWatch, Ethnic NewsWatch, and Alt-PressWatch. GenderWatch covers gender and women studies and LGBTQ+ research from authoritative perspectives in academic, radical and community presses from 1970 to present. Ethnic NewsWatch contains newspapers, magazines, journals of the ethnic, minority, and native presses from 1985 to present. Alt-PressWatch includes independent voices from grassroots newspapers, magazines, and journals across the social and political spectrum from 1970 to present.
- Independent Voices This link opens in a new windowThis database provides a digital collection of the magazines, journals, and newspapers relating to feminist, dissident, campus radical, Native American, anti-war activist, Black Power, Hispanic, LGBT activist, the extreme right-wing publications of the alternative and small press archives from the latter half of the 20th century.
- Political Science Complete This link opens in a new windowThis database covers political science topics in depth and has a worldwide focus. It includes scholarly journal articles, books, and conference papers.
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database provides articles, books, book reviews, and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present, and publication dates go from the late 19th century to the present.
- Historical Abstracts with full-text This link opens in a new windowContains articles, books, book reviews, and dissertations on the history of the world (except United States and Canada) from the 15th century to the present, and publication dates go from the 19th century to the present.
- Humanities Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database provides brief summaries of, and information on where to find, English-language articles in the most important journals in the humanities, published from 1984 to the present.
- Music Index with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database tells where to find books and articles from international music periodicals on all aspects of classical and popular music worldwide, published from 1970 to the present.