Library

General Academic Research

Below are suggested resources to use when researching a general or multidisciplinary topic. For research strategies and techniques, visit the resources linked from the menu at the left.

Getting Started | Finding Articles | Getting Fulltext | Country Information | Maps | Statistics | Biography |Style Guides

Specific Types of Resources: Dictionaries | Encyclopedias | Almanacs

Getting Started

Before jumping in and starting your research, it is a good idea to have a refined topic and to know a little about it. Start with broad reference resources like encyclopedias, bibliographies, and handbooks to get a sense of what is available on your topic in the universe of information. A good strategy for uncovering reference sources pertaining specifically to the subject you are researching is to execute a keyword or subject search in the Library Catalog for the broad subject of your research and limit your search to the location of Reference (Beatley).

Current Topic Search
Current TOPICsearch allows researchers to explore social, political & economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics discussed in today's classrooms including controversial opinions and viewpoints. TOPICsearch contains full text for over 78,000 articles from 3,000 diverse sources including international and regional newspapers, EBSCO's unparalleled periodicals collection, biographies, public opinion polls, book reviews, pamphlets, government information and EBSCO's Current Issues database.

Gale Virtual Reference Library
A database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.

Oxford Reference Online
Provides access to language and subject reference works from one of the world's biggest reference publishers in a single cross-searchable resource.
The Core Collection contains over 100 dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press. It is fully-indexed and cross-searchable.

Credo Reference
A giant online reference library that provides you with access to 150 reference books. Credo Reference includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and books of quotations, not to mention a range of subject-specific titles covering everything from art to accountancy and literature to law. The books included in Credo Reference are from the world's leading reference publishers, so you can rely upon the information you read.

Finding Articles

Search the following indexes to find articles. See individual Resources by Subject guides for more specific indexes covering topics within the broader field.

Journals and Magazines

Academic Search Complete
A multi-disciplinary periodical database indexing and abstracting both scholarly and popular content covering academic areas including social sciences, humanities, education, information science, engineering, language and linguistics, arts and literature, medical science, and cultural studies. Some coverage goes as far back as 1965, and over 4,000 titles are included fulltext. Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search!

Alt-Press Watch
Alt-PressWatch is a full text database of over 170 newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. It provides a valuable new source of coverage, viewpoints and perspectives to complement and challenge the mainstream media and serves a broad spectrum of subject areas including the arts, media and popular culture, business and labor studies, education, environmental studies and ecology, global studies, history, journalism, literary and critical studies, political science, government and public policy, social science and more. The magazines and journals covered in Alt-Press Watch provide in-depth coverage of a broad range of critical issues confronting contemporary society, including ecology and the environment, grassroots organizing, labor, indigenous peoples, public policy, genetics, and much more. Dates Covered: 1988 -

Alternative Press Index
Highly recommended comprehensive guide to alternative sources of information. Coverage is international and interdisciplinary.
Provides in-depth coverage in the humanities and social sciences. Indexes nearly 300 alternative, radical and leftist periodicals, newspapers and magazines. Includes selected abstracts from research journals. Updated quarterly. Dates Covered: 1991-

Expanded Academic ASAP
From arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images. Updated daily.

General Reference Center
A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources in one easy-to-use interface. It includes articles from magazines, reference books, and newspapers, many with full-text and images. It contains data on the latest current events, popular culture, the arts and sciences, sports, hobbies, and more.

JSTOR
JSTOR offers both multidisciplinary and discipline-specific collections. Provides full-text backfiles of many core scholarly journals, some dating back to the 1800s.
Dates Covered: Up to within 2 to 5 years of the first day of current year

Project Muse
Offers nearly 250 quality journal titles from 40 scholarly publishers.
As one of the academic community's primary electronic periodicals resources, Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others.
Project MUSE is setting the standard for scholarly electronic journals in the humanities and social science.

Special Issues
Specialissues.com provides you with multiple access points - phone, fax, website -- for acquiring special issue content. Specialissues.com also links you to website-specific content such as salary surveys, buyer's guides, industry overviews, company rankings, statistical surveys, event calendars and issue archives.

Newspapers

Boston Globe Index
Ref AI 21 B63 .B44 1987-2000

Boston Globe Index Online
Fulltext and index available from Proquest's Massachusetts Newsstand

Boston Herald
Fulltext and index available from Proquest's Massachusetts Newsstand

El Mundo
Full text and indexing available from Ethnic NewsWatch: 03/26/1992 to 08/24/1994

Ethnic News Watch
A comprehensive collection of newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press in America - now with expanded international coverage, and archival material back to 1988. Includes 932,000 articles (over 203,000 of them in Spanish) from 275 publications. Includes titles in both English and Spanish.
Approximately 7,500 new articles are added each month. Updated monthly. Dates Covered: 1990 -

Google News Archive Search
Google News Archive Search "provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. In addition to helping you search, News archive search can automatically create timelines which show selected results from relevant time periods." It does not always provide free fulltext, so check with a librarian for help accessing fulltext when necessary.

Lexis Nexis Academic
LexisNexis Academic provides searchable access to a comprehensive spectrum of full-text information from over 5,600 sources, selected to meet academic research needs. Included are: national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources; U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information; Shepard's Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789, business news journals, company financial information, SEC filings and reports, and industry and market news; statistics and medical information.

New York Times Historical
This database offers full-text and full-image articles for 1851-one year ago for The New York Times. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue - cover to cover - in downloadable PDF files. Use the database to find not only news, editorials, letters to the editor, obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements but also historical photos, stock photos, and advertisements. Dates Covered: 1851-One Year Ago

New York Times Index
Ref AI21.N4 N44  1851-2000 

News Links
http://www.abyznewslinks.com/
Online news sources from around the world. Site provides a directory of links to news. Primarily newspapers but also includes many broadcast stations, internet services, magazines, and press agencies.

NewsBank Full-Text Newspapers
Complete full-text content of local and regional news from the Boston Globe (1980-Current), the Boston Herald (1991-Current), and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (1989-Current) including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded.

Poynter Online
http://poynteronline.org/
Researching current and older news topics back to January 1995. Compilation of links and bibliographies covers such diverse subjects as international relations, computer viruses, copyright issues, airline safety, the economy, Pope John Paul II, and much more.

Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal is the financial newspaper of record. It offers in-depth coverage of national and international finance as well as first-rate coverage of hard news. Dates Covered: 1984 -

Getting Fulltext

Because not all indexes are fulltext--or 100% fulltext--you may have to look elsewhere to find an article for which you have a citation. Consult the resources below to find out how to get access to the articles you need.

Country Information

BBC Country Profiles
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/
History, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions and organizations.

Columbia Gazetteer of the World
http://www.columbiagazetteer.org/
G 103.5 C65 1998
The text version is a large, three-volume dictionary of names, descriptions, and characteristics of places in the world.

Countries of the World and Their Leaders Yearbook
G 122. C67
A compilation of U.S. Department of State reports on contemporary political and economic conditions, government personnel and policies, political parties, religions, history, education, press, radio and TV, climate, and other characteristics of selected countries of the world.

EIU Country Reports
The EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) is one of the leading publishers of in-depth information on countries world-wide.
Country Reports and Profiles contain background and historical context of current economic and political events, analysis of the infrastructure and major industrial sectors of each economy, and tables of key economic data for the past 5 years. Simmons subscribes to Country Reports from the following states: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom.

EIU Viewswire
The EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) is one of the leading publishers of in-depth information on countries world-wide.
Viewswire is a daily news service. Simmons subscribes to Viewswire from the following countries: Argentina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Estonia, Ghana, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, North Korea, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.

Geo-Data: The World Geographical Encyclopedia
G 103.5 G36 2003
Detailed and comprehensive descriptions of the physical geography of the world's 192 countries and 25 dependencies.

Library of Congress Country Studies
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
Description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world.

Oxford Dictionary of the World
G 103.5 O94 1995
Topographical descriptions of places in every country of the world; descriptions of peoples, languages, and religions, and definitions of selected geographical and environmental terms.

The World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
G122 .U57
Prepared by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for use by U.S. government officials, The World Factbook summarizes general information on the geography, people, government, economy, communications, transportation, military, transnational issues, and other aspects of the world's countries and dependencies, including a small map of the country and a picture of the country flag.

Maps

Atlapedia
http://www.atlapedia.com/
Full color physical maps, political maps as well as key facts and statistics on countries of the world.

Atlas of the World
G1021 .A7545 2003

Cosmopolitan World Atlas
G1019 .R25 1995

GEODE
http://geode.usgs.gov/
World maps based on population, transportation, natural resources, political boundaries, and more. Geographic data collected by the USGS and other government agencies are available for download.

Hammond Atlas of the World
G1021 .H2665 1997

Hammond Atlas of World History
G1030 .H34 1999

Historical Atlas of Massachusetts
Atlas Table

Historical Atlas of the United States
G1201.S1 C28 2003

Massachusetts atlas & gazetteer
Ref Desk

National Geographic Atlas of the World
Atlas Table

National Geographic Map Machine
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/
Interactive maps of the world, searchable by place name and also offered by theme: physical, political and cultural, climate and weather, historical, and ecosystems.

New York Times Atlas of the World
G1021 .T55 1992

Rand McNally Premier World Atlas
G1021 .R45 1997

Road atlas: United States, Canada and Mexico
Ref Desk and CRL Relocation

Shepherd's Historical Atlas
G1030 .S4 1980

Times Atlas of the World
Atlas Table

Universal atlas of metropolitan Boston & eastern Massachusetts
Ref Desk

Statistics

Factsearch
FactSearch is a specialized database of full-text statistical statements on current social, economic, political, health, and environmental issues and public policy topics.
It is derived from some 1,100 newspapers, periodicals, newsletters, and documents. Many database records contain Web links to the full text of source documents. The full text is available at no-charge. Use to locate an elusive number or statistics. Updated quarterly. Dates Coverage: 1984 -

FedStats
http://www.fedstats.gov/
Statistical information from more than 100 government agencies organized in a subject-based A-Z index. Also, organized by topic and geography.

Global Market Information
Produced by Euromonitor, the Global Market Information Database (GMID) is an integrated on-line information system providing key business intelligence on countries, companies, markets and consumers. Country statistics: GMID contains over a million hard-to-find demographic, economic and marketing statistics for 205 countries worldwide. The historic and forecast statistics enable you to build detailed country profiles and analyse trends from 1977-2016.

Kids Count State-Level Data Online
http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld/databook.jsp
Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book are now available in our easy-to-use, powerful online database, that allows you to generate custom graphs, maps, ranked lists, and state-by-state profiles; or, download the entire data set as delimited text files. The pull-down menus also allow you to read the book online or view the book in PDF format.

Population Reference Bureau - Population and Health Datafinder
http://www.prb.org/DataFind/datafinder7.htm
This database contains data on 136 population, health, and environment variables for more than 220 countries, 28 world regions and sub-regions, and the world as a whole. (Not all countries have data on all variables.)

State of the Cities
http://socds.huduser.org/
Data for individual Metropolitan Areas, Central Cities, and Suburbs provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Covers demographic and economic statistics, employment, county business patterns, FBI crime data, and local building permits.

Statistical Abstract of the United States
HA202 .U5 and
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

Statistical Universe
Statistical Universe is the most comprehensive source of federal statistics. Provides detailed abstracts, indexing, and locator information for all statistical reports of general research value issued by the federal government since the early 1960's. Includes direct links to all key statistical data available on federal agency World Wide Web sites as well as direct links to hundreds of reports stored within the Universe service itself. Dates Covered: 1960's -

Tablebase
TableBase is the database that specializes exclusively in tabular data on companies, industries, products and demographics. Featuring precise indexing, unambiguous table titles and links to full text, there's nothing like TableBase anywhere. International in scope and covering more than 90 industries, TableBase gives users unprecedented access to thousands of tables that are absolutely indispensable to daily research. Tables are drawn from the more than 1,000 sources that go into the Business & Industry database and from statistical annuals, brokerage reports, trade association reports, and governmental reports. Dates Covered: 1992 -

U.S. Census 2000
http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html
Current U.S. demographic data. Includes the nation's population, housing, business and manufacturing activity, international trade, farming, and state and local governments.

USA.gov Data and Statistics
http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Data.shtml

Biography

American National Biography
A 24-volume collection of biographies of Americans who have made significant achievements or who have influenced the course of American history.
CT213 .A68 1999

Biographical Cyclopaedia of American Women
CT3260 .B5 1974

Biography and genealogy master index
CT214 .B58

Biography Index
Beatley Reference - Level 1 1986-1992 and Renovation Storage 1946-1985

Biography Resource Center
This database combines award-winning biographies from respected Gale Group sources. Biography Resource Center also includes full-text articles from hundreds of periodicals. Search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death year, nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search.
With the Complete Marquis Who's Who(R), find quick reference information on an additional 900,000 people.

The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia
CT103 .C26 1998

Chambers Biographical Dictionary
CT103 .C4 1997

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography
CT213 .C36 1995

The Continuum dictionary of women's biography
CT3202 .I57 1989

Current Biography and Current Biography Yearbook
CT100 .C8

Dictionary of American Biography
E176 .D56

The International Who's Who
CT120 .I5 and CRL Directories

The National cyclopedia of American biography
E176 .N28

Native American women : a biographical dictionary
E98.W8 B38 1993

Notable American women : the modern period : a biographical dictionary
CT3260 .N573 1980

Notable Asian Americans
E184.A75 N67 1995

Notable Black American women : book II
E185.96 .N68 1996

Notable Native Americans
E89 .N67 1995

Notable women in world history : a guide to recommended biographies and autobiographies
CT3230 .A28 1998

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
DA28.D4 O95 2004

Significant Contemporary American Feminists: a biographical sourcebook
HQ1412 .S56 1999

Who's Who
DA28 .W6 2006

Who's Who in America
E663 .W5612 2006

Women in world history : a biographical encyclopedia
HQ1115 .W6 1999

Style Guides

American Medical Association Manual of Style
R119 .A533 1998

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law
PN4783 .A83 2004

The Chicago Manual of Style
LB2369 .U69 2003

Columbia Guide to Online Style
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html
This guide provides patterns and examples for a number of different electronic formats, including email, online databases, and software programs.

Concise Rules of APA Style
BF76.7 .C66 2005

Electronic Styles: A Handbook for Citing Electronic Information
PN171.F56 L5 1996
Older, but still useful resource for information on citing electronic formats.

Keys for Writers: a brief handbook
PE1408 .R16 1999

The Little, Brown Handbook
PE1112 .F64 1995

A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian
LB2369 .T8 1996

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
LB2369 .M53 2003

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
BF76.7 .P83 2001

UPI Stylebook and Guide to Newswriting
PN4783 .M47 2004

Finding information from Specific Types of Resources

For more information on more specific topics, see Resources by Subject or contact a librarian.

Dictionaries

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
http://www.bartleby.com/61/
PE1628. A623 2000

Chambers Dictionary
PE1628 .C41745 1994

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary
http://0-www.search.eb.com.library.simmons.edu/
PE1628 .W5638 1993

The new Fowler's modern English usage
PE1628 .F65 1996

The new Oxford American Dictionary
PE1628 .N429 2001

Oxford English Dictionary
 PE1625 .O87 1989
The Oxford English Dictionary, the world's leading authority on the history and development of the English language since 1150, also available online.
Contains the complete text of the OED's twenty-volume Second Edition and three-volume Additions Series. Online version adds at least 1,000 new and revised entries each quarter. Dates Coverage: 1150 - present.

The Random House dictionary of the English language
PE1625 .R3 1987

Random House Webster's College Dictionary
PE1628 .R28 1996

Random House Webster's dictionary of American English
PE1628 .R2943 1997

Webster's New World dictionary of American English
PE1628 .W5633 1994

Webster's third new international dictionary of the English language, unabridged
PE1625 .W36 1993

Encyclopedias

Academic American Encyclopedia
AE5 .A23 1993

The Cambridge Encyclopedia
AG5 .C26 1997

The Columbia Encyclopedia
AG5 .C725 2000

The new encyclopædia Britannica
AE5 .E363 2002
EB Online includes the complete encyclopedia, as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and the Britannica Book of the Year.
You can also use EB Online to search an Internet directory that includes more than 300,000 links to Web sites selected, rated, and reviewed by Britannica editors.
Through this service, you can find more than 118,000 articles, updated and revised by EB editors and contributors; over 14,000 illustrations, including photographs, drawings, maps, and flags; and more than 215,000 entries, including definitions, pronunciation guides and word histories from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

Encyclopedia Americana
AE5 .E333 2005

Almanacs and Other Fact Sources

New York Public Library Desk Reference
AG6 .N49 2002

Old Farmer's Almanac
AY81.F3 O6 

Pears cyclopaedia
AY756 .P4

The Time Almanac
AY64 .I552 2006

World Almanac and Book of Facts
AY67 .N5 W7 2006

Whitaker's Almanac
AY754 .W5 2005

Page updated: April 17, 2007

 

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