Global
Reference Sources
Quick Facts about Countries
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Background Notes (from the U.S. State Department)
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BBC Country Profiles (includes info re: country’s media outlets)
- CIA World Factbook
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NationMaster – statistics
General and Specialized Reference
- PowerSearch (all-in-one search of Gale eBooksGeneral OneFile, US History, and World History): reference articles appear under Books; on the lower right, you may narrow results by Document Type (e.g., topic overviews, case overviews, biographies)
- Congressional Research Service reports (curated by the Government Documents department at the University of North Texas). Note: CRS reports are also available at EveryCRSReport.com, CRSReports.com, Federation of American Scientists, and appear in PowerSearch in the Books grouping of results.
- Explora: reference content includes topic overviews, encyclopedia articles, and introductions, prefaces, or chapters within some e-books; on the left menu, you may narrow results by Source Type
- MW Library Catalog – reference books (e.g. History in Dispute)
- Oxford Handbooks Online – handbooks provide scholarly-level insight into a topic, so you generally want to read some general reference sources first before searching for a handbook article
- Salem Press Reference: small reference set covering American Decades, the environment, immigration, and migration
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The following databases are part of PowerSearch; however, by searching them directly, you may find relevant results faster.
- Gale eBooks: use one word or phrase to search VRL; VRL articles are included in PowerSearch, but in VRL’s direct interface you may search within a specific subset of reference books
- US History in Context: focused on U.S. History; for an overview of a topic, focus on results in the reference and biographies groupings, including topic overviews and case overviews; in PowerSearch, most reference articles from USHIC are in the group of search results labeled Books
- World History in Context: focused on World History; for an overview of a topic, focus on results in the reference and biographies groupings, including topic overviews and case overviews; in PowerSearch, most reference articles from WHIC are in the group of search results labeled Books
Research Sources
Contrasting Viewpoints
- Issues Researcher: designed for finding an array of viewpoints about U.S. public policy issues
- Explora: if your search results includes sources in Source Type = Trade Publications (see left menu), they may provide an industry/profession perspective on the topic (e.g., fracking articles from the energy industry); Explora also includes magazines with a political bias (e.g., The Nation and The National Review) or other slants
- MW Library Catalog – such as History in Dispute (in reference section) and the Taking Sides series (in the 900’s)
- PowerSearch: when narrowing News or Magazine results, look for Document Type of editorials, columns, or commentary; when narrowing Book results, look for viewpoint essays or reports
- AllSides.com (OA) – see trending news from the left, right, and center, browse for an issue, or use “Balanced Search” to find news about a particular topic; results link to original articles
- ProCon.org (OA) – read contrasting viewpoints about a variety of policy issues; most viewpoints are abbreviated from the original source (which is noted at top of viewpoint); use Google to find the original source; if the original source is not open access, try searching for it in Explora or PowerSearch
- Gale eBooks: use one word or phrase to search VRL; VRL includes books the contrasting viewpoints on several issues, such as Debates on U.S. Immigration
- African History Sourcebook Ancient History Sourcebook
- American Presidency Project – U.S. presidential libraries have online exhibits and archives that include primary source material.
- CIA Electronic Reading Room
- Digital Resources by Global Region– for European lists, select from menu on European Countries tab
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Foreign Relations of the U.S. (UW) – primary documentsFrontline Diplomacy – LoC archive shedding light on life of diplomats
- Gale eBooks: use one word or phrase to search VRL; includes several books featuring primary sources
- Historical Newspapers (incl. New York Times from 1851-2014, London’s Guardian and Observer from 1791-2003, and the Wall Street Journal from 1889-2002)
- Indian History Sourcebook
- Islamic History Sourcebook
- Jewish History Sourcebook
- JSTOR – British pamphlets are primary sources, as are some of the older scholarly journals depending on topic
- Medieval History Sourcebook
- MW Library Catalog – several nonfiction books are collections of primary source material
- Modern History Sourcebook
- National Security Archive (GWU) – includes primary source documents
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Office of the US Historian – digital records of US Foreign Policy by administration
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Primary Docs in Am. History (LoC) – organized by topic and era
- Public Papers of the President (UM) – through Clinton
- US History in Context: includes primary sources
- World History in Context: includes primary sources
- World Digital Library – primary docs from world libraries browseable by region/time
Scholarly Sources
Tip: BEFORE searching for scholarly sources, develop an understanding of your topic, be familiar with the vocabulary used to discuss it, and have a working list of related topics and subtopics. |
- JSTOR – archive of scholarly journals, as well as pamphlets and open access books; as an archive, JSTOR’s focus is on older content, so the most recent three to five years of journal coverage is not included in JSTOR; however, the coverage may go back as far as the 1800’s if the publication has been in print that long
- Oxford Handbooks Online – handbooks provide scholarly-level insight into a topic, so you generally want to read some general reference sources first before searching for a handbook article
- Explora – scholarly journals from across many subjects/disciplines, including some current coverage; some journal backfiles may go back as far as the mid-1980’s
- PowerSearch – scholarly journals from across many subjects/disciplines, including some current coverage; some journal backfiles may go back as far as the mid-1980’s
- Genderwatch – scholarly journals, dissertations, and other content focused on gender and sexuality issues, including some current coverage
- Science Direct – (LIMIT search to most recent five years) includes scholarly journals in psychology, education, & sociology; to set up off-campus access, scroll to the bottom of the page, click on “Remote access,” then register and verify your GSGIS account
Current Events
- AllSides.com (OA) – see trending news from the left, right, and center, browse for an issue, or use “Balanced Search” to find news about a particular topic; results link to original articles
- Google News
- Bing News Digg (stories from the web re-posted by Digg users)
- Yahoo! News
- Al-Jazeera America
- BBC World News
- CNN World News
- Inter Press Service (NGO focusing on global South)
- LinkTV (501c3 based in California)
- Newseum: Interactive Map of Today’s Front Pages
- New York Times World News
- UN News Centre – select region with map on right
- Worldpress Directory of World Newspapers (go to the source news sites – articles reprinted on the Worldpress site may be excerpts or edited versions)