Find Background Information
Encyclopedias, books, news sources, popular magazines, and search engines can lead you to articles that will be helpful in narrowing down your topic and finding additional keywords to search. When using an encyclopedia, read through the article's bibliography or references section to identify scholarly books and articles related to your topic.
You typically will not cite the sources you find as you begin your research. Use the background knowledge you build from these sources to develop your understanding of the language used by people discussing your topic. Add this vocabulary to a word bank you will use to search for credible and scholarly sources later on.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
An online library of hundreds of reference titles for multi-disciplinary research, including texts related to American and world history, biography, health, arts, business, travel, religion, and multicultural studies. - Oxford Research Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Current, peer-reviewed research from more than 25 encylcopedias. This includes the Encyclopedia of Social Work and the Oxford Classical Dictionary.
Find Articles
Academic journals and scholarly articles typically represent the reporting of the most current research in a given field, and trade journals provide perspective and insights from the point of view of folks working in a field.
When you're not sure where to start, try a broad search using UDiscover or Academic Search Complete. If you're searching for articles within a specific discipline, a subject database may help you find what you need more easily.
Recommended Databases for Broad Research
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary resource that includes journals, magazines, books, reports and proceedings. Contains over 10,000 titles, some coverage from 1880s to the present. - UDiscover This link opens in a new window
A search tool that lets you retrieve all types of research sources with one search. If you're looking for a variety of sources on your topic, or you're just getting started, UDiscover can help you access more information at once than ever before. It has a Google-like relevancy ranking, but helps you locate scholarly resources.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new window
A citation database with multidisciplinary coverage in the sciences, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Contains over 150 million records. Includes international proceedings coverage for over 120,000 conferences.
Recommended Databases for Engineering Articles
- ASCE Library This link opens in a new window
This database includes access to more than 145,000 pieces of civil engineering research and practical publications. This includes journals, magazines, ebooks, conference proceedings, and standards produced by the American Society of Civil Engineers. - ASME Digital Collection This link opens in a new window
This collection provides access to around 40 ASME-supported journals and publications dating back to 1880. - IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
This resource includes IEEE conference papers, journals, books, and technical standards on covering electrical engineering, computer science and electronics research from 1988 to the present. All content published since 1988 available in full text.
Recommended Databases for Business Articles
- Business Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Business Abstracts with Full Text contains full-text articles from key publications and provides product evaluations, interviews, biographical sketches, corporate profiles, obituaries, surveys, statistical rankings, book reviews and reports. Access is provided to more than 118 journals and indexes more than 300 more. - Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from thousands of scholarly business journals, magazines, and trade journals from the fields of marketing, management, accounting, finance, and economics. Plus company and industry profiles, SWOT analyses, country economic reports, financial data, and investment reports. - Entrepreneurial Studies Source This link opens in a new window
Entrepreneurial Studies Source covers the latest insights in entrepreneurship and small business ownership, It offers hundreds of full-text journals and books, plus more than 15,000 company profiles and videos. - Small Business Source This link opens in a new window
Small Business Reference Center offers more than 1200 full text consumer small business reference books, periodicals, and market reports. It includes business videos, a help and advice section and details on how to create business plans.
