CST 100: Principles of Public Speaking (Gower-Loudoun)

The best way to locate current, in-depth articles is through the library databases. Listed below are some great databases to get started on your article research.  You may also go to Databases by Subject and look under the subject category or categories most relevant to your research topic.

Remember to write only keywords rather than sentences in the database search boxes.  Search by academic discipline or career field. Include additional keywords to narrow your results, and connect different key concepts with AND.

For instance, let's say you are making an argument that companies should not be allowed to transport toxic chemicals using trains, due to the risk of derailments. You might begin by looking for articles that investigate such derailments and the impact they had on the surrounding communities. To begin a search like this, you might try:

trains AND derailment and "chemical spill"

This tells the database to only return results that contain all three of these concepts, making it more likely your search results will be relevant to your information need. NOTE: You may have noticed that "chemical spill" is in quotes - this is because it contains more than one word; by using the quotation marks, this tells the database to look for the exact phrase as a unit.

After you do a search, look for additional keywords or subjects in articles results themselves. This is often a great way to find additional search terms.