LibGuides: UGS 303: Dr. Reddick & Dr. Thompson: Find Sources for your Research

Step 1: Brainstorm Search Terms (Keywords)

Library databases and Google can't be searched the same way so take a few moments to come up with a search strategy before diving into a database.

Step 1: Think about the key concepts of your topic and search those instead of an entire phrases or sentences.

Step 2: Think of other terms you could use that are synonyms or related (they could be a broader or narrower aspect). This often requires that you do a little background research to learn more.

Step 3: Connect your terms using AND and OR:

Remember -

AND narrows your topic (use AND between terms if you want them all to appear in your results)
OR broadens your topic (use OR between terms if you want any, not all, to appear in your results)

Generate Keywords from a Topic
This tool can help you create search terms and formulate an effective search.

Step 2: Pick a Tool and Find Sources

HistoryMakers
Oral histories from across the US. You can search for Texas or Austin Texas to narrow it down.

These sites are helpful for picking a person you would interview for a podcast.

Allgo

Statewide queer people of color organization
Austin African American Resource Advisory Commission

Look at agendas for commissioners names. May be good if you're interested in gentrification issues.
Black Leaders Collective

Collective to address many areas, including health and education.
Celebrating Austin's Black History

From the Parks Department. Includes historical and current leaders.
Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce

Business leaders

Austin American Statesman in Newspaper Source Plus database
Find the Austin American Statesman to 2019. The Statesman is our major daily here in Austin and covers Central Texas, including political reporting.
- Note: Not all articles through are avaiable full text. For articles after 2019, search the Statesman website - not everything is paywalled.
- Search tip: include Austin American-Statesman in a search box and change the drop down to SO Journal name
Austin Business Journal
Business news in Austin. Ask a librarian if you can't access articles.
Austin Chronicle
This is our city's free weekly. It very apparently skews to the left of the political spectrum, but is a valuable resource for local issues.
TIP: From the menu, click on More and then Archives to search past issues
The Austin Villager
Free weekly newspaper serving the black community. Search or click on Archives and browse issues.
Community Impact
This paper comes to many homes for free and covers local issues. Choose your location for very specific content. Covers Austin, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth metro areas.
Daily Texan Archive
Seach older issues of the Daily Texan here, as well as searching their website for newer articles.
Google Custom Search: Austin Local Information
News, statistics, law/crime, and more
Texas Observer
Texas nonprofit news source.
Texas Standard
Daily news show for Texas broadcast on our public radio
Texas Tribune
Nonprofit news source inTexas

Libraries Search Box
Search across many of the Libraries electronic and print resources at once. Includes articles, books, ebooks and more.

Academic Search Complete
Articles from scholarly and popular sources across all disciplines
Google Scholar
Use GoogleScholar through this guide or the Libraries web site to access our subscriptions instead of hitting a paywall.
Race Relations Abstracts
Journal articles pertinent to race relations from across disciplines
Education Source
Journal articles in the field of education
Ethnic NewsWatch
Newspapers, magazines and journals from the ethnic press in the US (includes Black, LatinX, Native American, and more)

All African American Studies Article Databases

In the Libraries Search Tool: Look for the "get pdf or "available online" link. If it says it is only available in print, click Get a Scan to have the article scanned and emailed to you (for free).
In GoogleScholar: Look for the html or pdf link (and you may have to log in with your EID). If you don't see either, look for the View it @ UT link.
In Library Databases: Look for the pdf, full text, or hmtl link. If none are available, look for Find it at UT to find it in another database.

If none of those work, look up the article title in the Libraries Search tool to see if we have it.

If you can't find it, request it (for free) through Interlibrary Loan and we'll scan and email it to you.

Scholarly Journal Articles

Peer Review

You may be asked to look for peer-reviewed, research, scholarly, referred or academic articles - all names for the same type of source. What are they? These articles go through the peer-review process before they are published. A scholar/researcher/professor submits their article to a journal and it is sent to other experts in the field (peers) to ensure that they contain high-quality, original research important to the field. This is a measure of quality control other types of articles don't go through.

If you can't tell whether or not a journal is peer-reviewed, check Ulrichsweb.

access the database
type in the title of the journal
peer-reviewed journals will have a referee jersey ("refereed" is another term for "peer-reviewed") - example below