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English for Speakers of Other Languages Research Guide (ELL-095): Find Articles

A guide to resources for persuasive papers on controversial topics

What are Research Databases?

Research databases contain articles from periodical publications such as:

  • Scholarly journals
  • Magazines
  • Newspapers

These articles are published daily, weekly, or monthly (periodically).

The library subscribes to these databases yearly.

Databases may contain:

  • The full text of some articles
  • A combination of full text and citations/abstracts
    • An abstract is a summary of the article
  • Images and audio
  • Articles from reference books

Use the Help screens for information on how to search or ask a librarian

Users will be prompted for their college e-mail address and password to access databases with a computer off-campus.

Tutorials & Help with Databases

Current Issues Databases (pro/con)

The following databases include articles on major issues of the day.

They provide information on both sides of the issue.

  • Browse by topic to choose a topic or
  • Use the topic structure to find a chosen topic
  • Use the Advanced search to limit or narrow the search in various ways

General databases (all subjects)

  • General databases include articles on all subjects
  • Limit the search to full text articles only
  • Look at the language used in subject headings
    • Construct searches with those words