Get started looking for articles

 

DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START? HERE ARE SOME TIPS:

• Need help finding a topic?
• Try Opposing Viewpoints or CQ Researcher.  Both cover many topics and have very good pro / con material.
• Find the "Subject-Specific Resource" page (Under "WVC Libraries," above) that most closely matches the general subject you're researching.  Scan the links to books, and scroll through the web links to see a wide range of topics related to that subject.

• I have a topic, but I don't know which database to use.
• You have several options:
• Go to the "Subject-Specific Resource" page (Under "WVC Libraries," above) that most closely matches the general subject you're researching.  The "Articles" search box on that page only searches the databases most relevant to that subject.
• Under "Popular Links," at the top of this page, choose "subject list." Check the box or boxes most relevant to your topic to choose groups of appropriate databases.
• If you click on the name of the subject on that page (such as "Science and Agriculture") you'll see the specific databases assigned to that subject. Click directly on the name of a database if you just want to search that one.
• Ask a Librarian! (opens a chat window to a librarian).

• I have a topic, but I've never used an article database.
• Here's what you need to know:
• Article databases are online collections of articles from newspapers, scholarly journals, magazines, research reports and other sources.  Some collections cover all topics, and some focus on a particular subject.  See the item above for help choosing and getting to a database.
• To find articles in a database, write your topic as a sentence or a question, and then find the key words.  Words like "the," "about," "many" and "lots" are too general or casual to be useful.  Pick unique words: constitution, cancer, Alabama, ozone, respiratory.
• Enter 2-3 of your keywords in the search box provided by the database and press enter. You may want to choose the "full text" option to be sure that your results will include the articles.
• This step is important: take your time reviewing the list of results.  See the first few tips in this section to increase or decrease the number of results, or to make them more specific.  Feel free to refine your search or start over as much as you'd like. 
• Each database provides a variety of ways for you to get articles: you can e-mail them to yourself, print them, or save them to disk.
• Need more help? Ask a Librarian! (opens a chat window to a librarian).