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Assignment Recommendations

Below you will find database recommendations and search strategies for different types of assignments and information needs.

Databases (besides OneSearch)

  • Ebook Central: Ebook Central offers access to nearly 200.000 titles across academic and professional subject areas, including titles university presses and other scholarly publishers. 
  • Academic Search Premier: A comprehensive index of peer-reviewed scholarly journals in social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multicultural studies, as well as popular magazines published from 1990-present. Provides Full-text access to peer reviewed articles from thousands of journals.
  • CQ Researcher: CQ Researcher features in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy. Each single-themed report provides an introductory overview, including pro-con issues; a background and chronology; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; a pro/con debate by representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources.
  • Opposing Viewpoints: Provides information on key current social issues and “hot topics” from a number of perspectives. Includes: topic overviews; viewpoint articles; primary source documents; profiles of individuals, agencies and interest groups; statistical tables, charts and graphs; and other useful material for debates and argumentation writing assignments.
 

Search Strategies

  • Find current information: Pay attention to the date of publication. The currency/timeliness of sources is important.
  • Start with broad search terms: Refine your topic by using more specific subject/topic terms associated with relevant articles that you find.
  • Look for multiple sides and viewpoints: Think of it as listening to a conversation. In this case, an academic conversation.

Information Sources (besides OneSearch)

 

Search Strategies

Connect (synthesize) sources that connected the broad issue or problem with the local context.
  • Search the scholarly and popular literature about the broad issue or problem. For example, free speech on college campuses.
  • Search local sources (Mustang News, SLO Tribune, Cal Poly website) for local viewpoints and information. For example, controversial speakers at Cal Poly.

Recommended Newspaper Databases

  • Newspaper Search in OneSearch: Type in your keywords, and at the bottom of the first set of results, use the NEWSPAPER Search feature to get newspaper results. When that result list comes up, open the Journal Title tab on the left to choose which paper you want to see results from.
  • California Digital Newspaper Collection: CDNC is a freely accessible repository of digitized California newspapers from 1846 to the present.
  • California Newspapers (Newsbank): Searchable full text from California newspapers, including the Tribune (San Luis Obispo), the San Francisco Chronicle, the Fresno Bee, the Sacramento Bee, and the San Diego Union-Tribune.
  • Google Newspapers: Partial runs of newspapers from various eras and regions in North America.
  • Ethnic NewsWatch: Ethnic NewsWatch covers a wide range of topics related to ethnicity and culture; it includes full-text coverage for many newspapers, magazines, and journals, with special attention to ethnic and minority press publications.
  • ProQuest Global Newsstream: Global Newsstream provides a large collection of news from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia, including newspapers, newswires, news journals, television and radio transcripts, blogs, podcasts, and digital-only websites in full-text format.
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers
  • Westlaw: The legal and legislative database Westlaw has a lot of current newspaper content - HINT: IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR ARTICLES FROM TODAY, WESTLAW IS A BIT FASTER IN GETTING IT ON THE PLATFORM THAN GLOBAL NEWSTREAM.

Find more: Newspaper Databases

Videos on finding newspaper articles:

Learn how to cite a newspaper article in MLA, APA, Chicago, and more!

Information Sources (besides OneSearch)

  • Academic Search Premier 
    • A comprehensive index of peer-reviewed scholarly journals in social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multicultural studies, as well as popular magazines published from 1990-present. Provides Full-text access to peer reviewed articles from thousands of journals.
  • Ebook Central 
    • Ebook Central offers access to nearly 200.000 titles across academic and professional subject areas, including titles university presses and other scholarly publishers. Ebook Central combines formerly separate services Ebook Library (EBL), Ebrary, and MyiLibrary.
  • Very Short Introductions 
    • Oxford Very Short Introductions allow you to discover a new topic or subject through an intelligent and serious introduction written by authors who are experts in their field. The series covers a wide range of topics in areas including Arts and Humanities, Science and Mathematics, Social Sciences, Law, and Medicine and Health.
  • Subject-Specific Databases 
    • Find the best library databases for your research by using the dropdown "Browse by Subject" option.
  • Tropicos
    • Use this database to find the original formal description of a new plant species.
  • Scientific American
    • Use this popular science magazine to learn about recently discovered species.
  • BIOSIS Previews (Web of Science)
    • Index to life sciences and biomedical research from journals, meetings, books, and patents. Covers pre-clinical and experimental research, methods and instrumentation, animal studies, and more. Includes BIOSIS indexing and enhanced MeSH disease terms.
  • Zoological Record
    • Zoological Record covers all aspects of animal biology, paleobiology, taxonomy, biodiversity, and zoology, focusing on the natural biology of animals (fossil, recent, whole animal, behavioral, environmental, and cellular studies), with coverage back to 1864.
  • CAB eBooks

    • CAB eBooks cover topics including animal and veterinary sciences, agricultural economics and rural studies, environmental sciences, plant sciences, human health and nutrition, and leisure and tourism studies.

  • Google
    • Websites/blogs/articles that introduce new species or objects.
    • Websites/blogs/articles that refer to other research on your object.
    • Newspapers where discoveries or inventions were made.
 

Search Strategies

Always look at a source with a specific goal in mind. In this case, we care about informative details.
  • Find a topic. Use a source like Google to find a newly discovered species or something that just interests you.
  • Try to find the basics. Newly discovered species tend to be better for an object speech because there is new research on it. Just because it is new to you, does not mean there will be new research on it.
  • Don't be afraid to try again. If you are struggling to find information on your object, or you can't find anything from the last five years, pick a new object.

Information Sources (besides OneSearch)

 

Search Strategies

Find an article that either:
  • Generally theorizes about rhetorical appeals used in this speech.
  • Makes a claim about the speech or speaker.

Information Sources (besides OneSearch)

Library Databases for articles and book chapters:

 

Library Databases for Background Sources:  

Search Strategies

Always look at a source with a specific goal in mind. In this case, we care about informative details.
  • Find current information: Pay attention to the date of publication. The currency/timeliness of sources is important.
  • Start with broad search terms: Refine your topic by using more specific subject/topic terms associated with relevant articles that you find.
  • Look for multiple sides and viewpoints: Think of it as listening to a conversation. In this case, an academic conversation.

Information Sources (besides OneSearch)

Library Databases for articles and book chapters:

 

  • Academic Search Premier
  • Ebook Central
  • Google
    • Websites/blogs/articles that introduce new species or objects.
    • Websites/blogs/articles that refer to other research on your object.
    • Newspapers where discoveries or inventions were made.
 

Search Strategies

Think about how you will engage with the information source. What is your purpose for using it to research the conspiracy theory?
  • Using a source to provide general information about the topic. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
  • Using a source as evidence or example to analyze. For example, sources that believe the conspiracy theory. These do not need to be credible to be analyzed and evaluated.
  • Using a source to engage its argument. Most will be scholarly sources written by researchers and scholars, or credible sources written by journalists and staff writers of the publication. These are the sources you engage in conversation.

Information Sources (besides OneSearch)

Library Databases for articles and book chapters:

 

 

Search Strategies

Find an article that either:
  • Generally theorizes about rhetorical appeals used in the commercial.
  • Makes a claim about the brand/company that created the commercial.
 

Search Terms

  • General assignment directions:
    • Commercial
    • Advertising
    • Marketing
    • Analysis
  • Specific to commercial:
    • Themes (e.g. masculinity, femininity)
    • Appeals (ethos, pathos, logos)
    • Audience
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