General and Subject-specific databases
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Academic OneFileGeneral-interest academic database; some articles are not necessarily scholarly sources.
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Academic Search CompleteGeneral-interest academic database; some articles are not necessarily scholarly sources.
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Global Issues in ContextIntegrates news, global viewpoints, reference materials, country information, primary source documents, videos, statistics, and more in a single search; updated daily and offers 250 different country topic pages and more than 400 Issue pages. Global Issues Viewpoints contains more than 3,000 exclusive commentaries that provide background and guidance on significant topics.
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Opposing Viewpoints In ContextCovers today's hottest social issues, offering differing views to help learners develop critical-thinking skills and draw their own conclusions. Includes pro/con viewpoints, reference articles, interactive maps, infographics, and more.
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Project MUSEAn interdisciplinary collection of more than 650 high quality, peer reviewed journals designed for institutions acquiring extensively in the humanities and social sciences.
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List of A-Z DatabasesFor additional databases on a variety of subjects
Sample Google Scholar Search
Fact Check
Fact checking sources with good reputations include:
Snopes.com - The Urban Legends Reference Page. Site authors research rumors and include citations and references.
Politifact.com - A Pulitzer Prize-winning site that researches and rates political statements and claims. Rating scale goes from True to Half-True to Pants on Fire!
FactCheck.org - A Project of the Annenberg Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania also see SciCheck which specifically fact checks scientific claims
Washington Post Fact Checker - Rates claims from true (A Geppetto Checkmark) to "Whopper" (4 Pinocchios)
AP Fact Check - From the Associated Press
Open Secrets - From the Center for Responsive Politics
Be especially wary of anything claiming to provide the "truth" or "just the facts".
True facts and statistics can be manipulated in a number of ways in order to tell a certain story. Many people have fallen for the DiHydrogen Monoxide petition - requesting that water be banned!
Newspaper Databases
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Historical New York Times (ProQuest News & Newspapers)Provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time, covering 1851-2013.
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News & NewspapersSearchable full text for The Boston Globe 1980-present, New York Daily Times 1851-1857, New York Times 1857-present, and Wall Street Journal 1984-present.
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Newspaper SourceFull text for more than 60 national and international newspapers and more than 300 regional U.S. newspapers. Complete television and radio news transcripts from CBS News, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, NPR and more.
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Nexis Uni (formerly: LexisNexis Academic)Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents.
Evaluating Sources: Use the CRAAP Test Method (It really helps!)
Suggested Journals
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Public Relations QuarterlyCarries articles from 1965-2007 In the Communications and Mass Media Complete database.
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Public Relations ReviewCarries articles from 1975 to present in the ScienceDirect database
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Public Relations TacticsCarries articles from 1994-2017 in the Business Source Premier and MasterFile Premier databases.
Additional Help
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Sample Mind Mapping ToolThis Mind Mapping Tool is a great way to brainstorm and build concept maps for your topic. This is a sample of the mind map tool for your understanding of concept maps and research questions.
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Try Building Your Own Concept MapThis is an online Mind Map tool that will assist you in building a concept map for your topic. Have Fun!