Communicating clearly about complex events, concepts, or topics often requires pulling together multiple sources of information that is both reputable and relevant. In many cases, you will need resources that define, analyze, classify, explore cause and effect, compare or contrast, or explain a process. Sometimes, this information can often take the form of a "Reference" resource like an encyclopedia article or a dictionary entry. Sometimes, you may need a real world example that might be reported in a newspaper or a magazine article. You may also need statistical information or the result of an experimental study--like what you would find in a scholarly article. Use the resources below to explore different types of resources to cover a broad range of topics.
Your topic may cover a variety of subjects: from atoms to zombies. If you are not sure where to begin, we have two excellent resources that will connect you to scholarly articles and magazine articles on just about anything:
Multi-disciplinary database with full text journals, indexing /abstracts, monographs, reports, conference proceedings, and more.
Resources like "Encyclopedias" and "Dictionaries" give simple definitions of terms and provide short overviews of different topics and concepts. They are a great source of information to get started on understanding your concept.
Information on the meaning and history of words.
If you don't know much about your topic, try these topic-focused databases about history, environmental science, controversial issues, and more. Depending on your topic, these databases can provide the essential overview information to help define essential terms, provide historical context, examples, and more from reliable, academic sources. Look at topic pages for "Overview" information or check out the "References" section.
Biographies of influential people around the world.
Interdisciplinary content that reinforces the development of skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity, and innovation.
Database focused on the physical and social aspects of environmental issues.
Viewpoints on a broad spectrum of global issues and current events.
Online resource covering today’s social issues. Provides pro/con viewpoint essays, primary source documents, statistics, articles, and images.
References content from scientific encyclopedias integrated with current news, images and videos to highlight real-world issues.
Includes scholarly content on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. history.
Includes scholarly content the most significant people, events and topics in world history.
You can find background information in many library databases. Try using these tips to help narrow search results to broader overviews of your topic:
