Database Research for Social Issues

What is a DATABASE? A collection of magazines, newspapers, academic journals, and other resources available online with a subscription.

You Need a Library Card Sign up for an e- card! See link at: irvington.org/library

Now How Do I Search? USE KEYWORDS, NOT whole sentences: How have women’s roles and rights within the family and within society changed since 1950? Women’s rights Women’s roles Gender roles Family Workplace Sexism Feminism Wage gap Gender gap Glass ceiling

Narrow or Broaden Your Results Click box to limit to FULL TEXT Search Keyword, Subject, Entire Document Boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT Narrow by TYPE (ex: news articles, or primary sources) Scan (quickly look through) results for sources that seem useful. Open full article and read!

Try Topic-Specific Databases Here are a few useful databases for Civil Rights Movements, for example…

To get started… Go to Under “Research”, Choose “A-Z Resources”

For Social Studies, look under the “By Subject I-Z” Tab …

& try the Social Issues section

For example, Opposing Viewpoints (This is the “Civil Rights” section)

Results are organized by TYPE of source, like News or Primary Sources, within any database! (Here, I’ve clicked on Primary Sources)

Also see the History and Biography Section, under the “By Subject A-H” Tab (go back 1 screen)

Student Resources in Context is one of the choices in that section Lots of primary source documents You can narrow & sort your search

U.S. History in Context Primary sources Images Click on View All to see all the topics in a category, or Use the search box

Academic One File A good general resource for all academic subjects, including social studies. Type into the search box: This database limits by type of source too—it just looks different Did you remember to limit to full text?

Biography Resource Center Useful if researching a specific person from history

Best of History This is a free online database you can access anytime It contains reviewed websites, not journal articles

Can’t find articles on your topic in the subject- specific databases? Try a GENERAL database, like Academic One File, under “By Subject I-Z”, Magazine & Newspaper Quick Search

Looking for a periodical? Try Magazine & Newspaper Quick Search, under the “By Subject I- Z” Tab. (Pay attention to dates, for ex. General One File goes back to 1980)