Research Topic Database Guide

Medical oriented papers click here.

• Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) is always a good bet, as you can get many “full-text” articles here over a huge range of subjects. In fact, it’s almost too huge.
• Books@Ovid offers an array of medical textbooks that can be viewed online.
• Journals@Ovid Full Text offers an incredible number of full-text articles from a wide array of medical journals, with topics ranging from alcoholism to AIDS to Xenotransplantation (beats me!)
• LexisNexis Academic is always a useful database because it provides full-text access to a larger array of popular newspapers and magazines, which can help you determine recent trends in a medical topic that interests you
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (GaleNet) provides access to a brilliant website that is indexed to lead you to “controversial” articles ranging from abortion to teenaged pregnancy.

Military oriented papers go to EbscoHost and scroll down to Military Library FullTEXT.

Education oriented papers, start here:

In addition to Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) you might try:

• JSTOR (scholarly journal collection) – this is a wonderful database of easily citable articles; the only trick is that before you search you have to scroll down and click on the types of journals you want to search (there is an entire section marked “education”).
• National Center for Education Statistics – this site contains all kinds of statistics about educational trends
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (GaleNet) – this site contains an “education” index

Ecology/Environment type papers:

In addition to Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) you might try:

• JSTOR (scholarly journal collection) – this is a wonderful database of easily citable articles; the only trick is that before you search you have to scroll down and click on the types of journals you want to search (there is an entire section marked “Ecology”).
• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (GaleNet) – this site contains an “ecology” index and a “pollution” index.
• And you might try Nature magazine.

Here are some online journals for religion oriented papers:

· Religion & theology - Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) available from 03/01/1999 to 6 months ago

· Religion and American culture - Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) available from 01/01/2001 to present

• Religion and the arts (Chestnut Hill, Mass.) -Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) available from 03/01/1999 to 6 months ago

· Religion, state & society -Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) available from 03/01/1999 to 1 year ago

· Religious education - Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) available from 01/01/1990 to present; MasterFILE Premier (EBSCOhost) available from 01/01/1990 to present; Professional Development (EBSCOhost) available from 01/01/1990 to present

And here is a great sources to help you start thinking about “framing” your argument. LexisNexis Academic is a database of news articles from all over and can quickly inform you about what is going on with your topic currently. For example, many of you in my online classes are nursing majors – there is a ton of stuff right now about nurses AND Agent Orange (the Vietnam era herbicide that is alleged to have caused cancer innumerous combat veterans, including a famous Army combat nurse who just died of cancer). Also, I’ve seen a lot recently about single-parent families—always a popular topic; and affirmative action is also a hot topic currently, and so is standardized testing (I-Step, SATs, etc.), as well as Title IX (equity for women’s sports). LexisNexis is not academic enough to do much actual quoting from (although you may do some), but it is a GREAT place to start your search for other resources, in that it will provide lots of names and ways to track down academic articles, plus it can help you narrow your focus.

Here is a great site that might let you “frame” your argument and suggest a research path: CQ Researcher – these articles are written by journalists to cover several sides of “hot” issues. They are heavily footnoted, which means you can put together your own research, and citing information is provided. The site is password protected (IPFW computer and library log-in), and if it doesn’t work from the link I’ve provided, just go to the Helmke database page and start there.

Need help searching databases?

• Here’s a quick tutorial on how to get started.
• And here’s a library brochure with more details on how to get the best use out of EBSCOhost.

WHW

Page Created: 1.22.03

Page Updated: 2.19.03