Clark Family Library: FYS 199-06 Death (Wolf) Fall 2024: Search Strategies

Find Contextual Information

Finding contextual information is an important part of the research process. It helps you:

learn about topics with which you are unfamiliar
identify important facts related to your topic - keywords, dates, events, history, and names and organizations
refine your topic
find additional sources of information through bibliographies and works cited

Remember to keep going back to your question:

What is my topic?
Which sources are best for your topic?
How will I manage and cite my sources?

Encyclopedia and Background Information Databases

See Databases A-Z to search for databases. Most databases are paid for by the library, but some are freely available to all.

Specific Databases, Museum websites and Art Encyclopedia's to try, starting with the top three for beginning your study:

Credo Reference
This database is great for background information. It provides access to more than 630 full-text reference books and over 3 million full-text entries.
JSTOR
Full- text of back issues of peer-reviewed journals as far back as the 1800s in the arts, sciences, ecology, botany, language, literature, and music. Multidisciplinary.
Academic Search Ultimate
Offers full-text access to over 12,000 journals, including more than 10,000 peer-reviewed titles. A great database to start your research
Project Muse: Basic Undergraduate Collection
Collection of heavily indexed and peer-reviewed journals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Database includes 340 full-text journals from 80 scholarly publishers from 1995 to present. MUSE.

Newspaper Databases

Use our newspaper databases to find newspaper articles on your topic. This is a great way to get some background information, refine your topic, develop keywords, and learn about current events or issues.

Global Newsstream
Searchable full-text of more than 2800 global news sources including newspapers, newswires, news journals, and transcripts. Find full text (no images) of the New Pittsburgh Courier, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post here. Coverage dates vary.
Newspaper Source
Full-text of 28 national and international newspapers, selected full-text for more than 260 regional newspapers, and some full-text television and radio news transcripts. Coverage varies by newspaper with some beginning 2000 to present.
New York Times (Proquest Database)
Contains searchable full-text articles from the New York Times newspaper from 1980-present. We also have access to the New York Times through their website which covers back to 1851. Since this content is in a database you may find that it's easier to search and filter than nytimes.com. Content discovered through this database will not have images included but articles through nytimes.com will.
New York Times (Website Subscription)
Contains full-text articles and images in the New York Times from 1851 to the present on the nytimes.com website.

Access to articles from 1923 to 1980 is limited to five per day, any other time frame provides unlimited article access.

The New York Times is a great resource for current events as well finding out how historical events were covered or received at the time they happened.

In order to access this resource you must create an account for the site, directions for doing so can be found on our FAQ page.
Access to the NY Times through the website is different from access through the Proquest database. It will not have the indexing and filters that you find in the database but it covers a larger period of time and gives you access to images.

Google and Google Scholar Search Tips

Google Scholar
Google Scholar Search Help
Get the most out of Google Scholar with some helpful tips on searches, email alerts, citation export, and more.
Google Search Tips
This research guide from Clark College Libraries provides detailed visual and text-based tips for using Google to its fullest potential.
Linking Clark Family Library to Google Scholar
This FAQ from our "Just Ask" page details how to link the Library to your Google Scholar. This allows you to see more full text access off campus when searching Google Scholar. If you are connected to the campus wifi, your account will automatically be linked for the duration that you are on the wifi.