Research Guides: ENGL 2A: Communities &amp; Rhetorics (Tremblay-McGaw): Where to Find Sources

From Idea to Library: What's a Database Again?

Get Foundations: Encyclopedias

To find a broad overview of your topic, try one of these reference sources collection. Specialized encyclopedia databases can be used at the beginning of your research to help you get a grasp on some of the basics and the language.

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Allows you to search for articles from over 600 different electronic reference books and also works as a gateway to a very wide array of other information sources, including images, audio and video. It is a really excellent place to begin research with 'Topic Pages' offering authoritative overviews and a Mind Map feature to assist in narrowing and focusing research and identifying keywords for database searching.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window Provides the full text of over 200 subject encyclopedias, handbooks, dictionaries, and directories.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window A collection containing over 120 dictionaries and reference titles covering a broad spectrum of subjects from general reference and language to science and medicine, and from humanities and social sciences to business and professional.

Get Comprehensive: Browse and Find Ebooks

We have you covered for books -- there are more than 160,000 ebooks in the library. Use them for identifying and exploring broad and deep conversations around your topic. Follow the instructions below.

Step 1: Start your search for ebooks directly off the library homepage under the "streaming videos/ebooks" tab.

Step 2: Keep your search words focused on the big ideas or concepts. Use just a few essential words like "business ethics", "religion" or even a name of particular religious tradition like "Islam".

Step 3: Once you find a title you like, connect to it by clicking on the "connect to this title online" box.

Go Scholarly: Use Academic Databases

Multidisciplinary Databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A multidisciplinary database providing access to more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. It also offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals. Covers a wide range of academic topics including business, education, social sciences, humanities, science, & engineering. Coverage varies, with some publications going back to 1911.
OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
This multi-disciplinary database provides the complete content - indexing, abstracts, and full text - from six of Wilson's full-text databases: Education Full Text, General Science Full Text, Humanities Full Text, Readers' Guide Full Text, Social Sciences Full Text, and Business Full Text. Full-text articles from five additional periodical databases are also included when available: Applied Science & Technology Full Text, Art Full Text, Biological & Agricultural Index, Index to Legal Periodicals & Books, and Library Literature & Information Science Full Text. Indexing begins in 1982, abstracts in 1984, and full-text coverage in 1994. Updated daily.

Ethnic Studies & Women's Studies

Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Ethnic NewsWatch™ is really two databases, a current one, beginning in 1990 and including newspapers, magazines, and journals of the American ethnic and minority press, including scholarly ethnic studies journals.This is updated daily with new content. The other database is a historical file covering the years 1959-1989, incuding a rare collection of over 30 full-text titles, focusing on African American, Hispanic American, and Native American presses from 1959-1989.
Black Studies Center This link opens in a new window
Fully cross-searchable gateway to Black studies including scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, and much more. It combines several resources such as Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, International Index to Black Periodicals (IIBP), Black Literature Index, and historical black newspapers such as the Chicago Defender (1910-1975) and the Daily Defender (1956-1975).
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Sentinel This link opens in a new window
First hand coverage of the grass-roots struggle against the racially restrictive housing covenants of the 1940s. Considered to be the major newspaper of the Black community in Los Angeles during the 20th century. The oldest and largest black newspaper in the western United States and the largest African-American owned newspaper in the U.S.
HAPI This link opens in a new window
Includes citations for documents, journal articles, and original literary works on Latin American topics in the social sciences and humanities from 1970 to present. Over 500 journals, published worldwide, are indexed. Includes citations for articles and documents on Mexico, all Central American and South American countries, and the Caribbean. Hispanics/Latinos in the United States are also included.
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 This link opens in a new window
A database of hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers published between 1808-1980 from 22 states, many of which are from California, Texas, New Mexico, and New York. Many newspapers are bilingual.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
GenderWatch enhances gender and women's studies, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) research by providing authoritative perspectives from 1970 to present. GenderWatch provides access to over 300 titles, with more than 250 in full-text, from an array of academic, radical, community and independent presses.

Communications & Criminal Justice Databases

Communication Source This link opens in a new window
The most comprehensive resource for scholars studying mass media, communication theory, linguistics, organizational communication, rhetoric & discourse, phonetics, and speech pathology. It includes the full text of more than 600 publications (academic journals, conference papers, magazines, and periodicals). Coverage goes back to 1915.
Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
This database provides access to articles and other materials related to film and television research. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. The database includes indexing and abstracts for more than 300 publications, as well as full text for more than 90 journals.
Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive database supporting research on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, as well as litigation and crime trends. The database covers criminology, corrections & law enforcement, criminal law, criminal justice, criminal rehabilitation, industrial crime, addictions (e.g., gambling), and child abuse. 1981-present.

Other Social Sciences & Humanities Databases

APA PsycInfo This link opens in a new window
Abstracts professional and scholarly psychology journals and book chapters, plus dissertations and technical reports. The coverage includes over 1300 journals in 27 languages from approximately 50 countries. 1887-present. Updated monthly.
Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
Indexes articles and reproductions of works of art appearing in periodicals published throughout the world on the visual arts, from 1929-present. The full text of articles in selected periodicals is available online back to 1997. Updated daily.
Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
Indexes and abstracts English-language articles in the most important journals in the humanities, from 1984-present. The full text of many of these articles is available online from 1995 forward. Updated daily. For indexing of articles appearing prior to 1984, use Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective.
Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
Indexes and abstracts articles at least one column in length from over 544 different English language periodicals in the social sciences, which includes anthropology, psychology, sociology, ethnic studies, political science, economics, geography, urban studies, and more. Fulltext of articles are available from about 175 of these periodicals. Indexing goes back to 1983. Abstracts began with January 1994. Fulltext availability varies title to title, but may go back to 1995. Updated daily. For indexing of articles appearing prior to 1983, use Humanities & Social Sciences Retrospective.