Course Guides: UGS 302 - Debates on Democracy in America - Ritter

If you're not very familiar with the topic you're writing on, look up some basic background information to give you an overview and help you identify keywords for searching. 

• Gale Virtual Reference Library : Searches 100+ subject-specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.
• CQ Researcher: In-depth reports on “hot” news topics written by journalists. Shows multiple sides of an issue.
  
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center: Viewpoint essays, topic overviews, statistics, biographies, court cases, and newspaper and magazines articles.
  

Because library article databases have to be searched differently than Google, it's best to start by brainstorming keywords. Choose keywords which represent the main concepts of your paper topic. Then for each concept, choose a number of keywords, including synonyms and related terms.

Then combine them using AND and OR

• AND narrows your search by looking for articles with all of the words
• OR broadens your search by looking for articles with any of the words

Example: How does poverty affect health?

OR	Concept 1	AND	Concept 2
	poverty		health
	low income		disease
	socio-economic status		illness

 This keyword tool lets you brainstorm online and send the results to yourself.

Understanding the difference between popular and scholarly articles can help you choose the best sources for your assignments. Scholarly articles (in journals such as Psychological Review) are written by professors and other experts in a field, while popular articles (in magazines like Newsweek) are written by journalists. See this guide for more detail. 

Multidisciplinary
This database includes articles from all areas of study as well as from popular sources.

• Academic Search Complete : Find popular and scholarly articles from across disciplines
• LexisNexis Academic : Find newspaper articles, including The New York Times. Search Tips
  
• JSTOR : Find scholarly articles from all disciplines.

Subject-Specific
These databases each focus on a specific area of study. Since many topics in your course are inter-disciplinary (studied by more than one discipline) you may want to search in more than one subject-specific database to get the best results.

• PAIS: Political, social, and public policy issues. Scholarly articles as well as books and book chapters, conference proceedings and reports.
• America: History and Life: Citations for articles on U.S. current affairs and history. Use the Find It @ UT button to read the article.
• Sociological Abstracts : Find articles from sociology and related disciplines.
• EconLit : Find articles and working papers from the field of economics.
  
• ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) : Find articles and other research documents from the field of education.
• Databases by Subject: Choose an academic discipline to see a list of databases relevant for that field. 

Different databases contain the full text of different newspaper titles for different years.  Your choice of newspaper and the years you want to search will determine which database you use.  

Use the chart below to determine the title and dates of coverage you want to start searchign and click the newspaper title below to be taken to the database.

Follow the search tips in the first columns to limit to a particular title and editorials.

Need help? Contact the course librarian, use our chat service, or visit the PCL Information and Research Help Desk-------------------------------------->

Database and Search Tips	Contains	Years of Coverage
LexisNexis Academic Tips on limiting to editorials Select Source > Or by Name: Newspaper Title	New York Times	1980-Present
	Los Angeles Times	Most recent 6 months
	Washington Post	1977-Present
Factiva	Wall Street Journal	1979-Present
Tips on limiting to editorials
ProQuest Historical Newspapers	New York Times	1851-2008
Limit to editorials by choosing	Los Angeles Times	1881-1998
“Document Type: Editorial”	Washington Post	1877-1995

General tips for finding opinion articles in newspaper and magazines:

• Lexis Nexis Academic: Click on News>All News, then check the box for Editorials & Opinions.  
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center: Viewpoint essays, topic overviews, statistics, biographies, court cases, and newspaper and magazines articles.
  
• Academic OneFile: Enter your search terms and add the word editorial. Example: Labor unions and editorial

Find more articles using these databases.

• THOMAS: Legislative information from the Library of Congress at www.thomas.gov.
• ProQuest Congressional: Find Congressional publications, including Hearings, Committee Prints, Reports, Documents and Congressional Research Service Reports (CRS Reports).

Popular Magazines vs. Scholarly Journals
This grid will help you distinguish between scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles and popular articles.  Compare your article with the components of a scholarly article.

How to Evaluate Books, Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers
This guide provides you with some criteria and tips for exploring the credibility of a source by assessing authority, accuracy, currency, objectivity, and purpose.

How to Evaluate Websites
This guide provides you with criteria and tips for evaluating the credibility of a website by assessing authority, accuracy, currency, objectivity, and purpose.

What is a Primary Source?
Learn more about what defines a primary source and how to find them.

 

• Find Primary Sources - a guide with tips and starting places for findng primary sources
• American Decades Primary Sources - find primary sources from US history and culture - online through the Libraries
• Historical Newspaper Collections:  African American Newspapers, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Los Angeles Times , ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Times , ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Washington Post

 

Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4

Video