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ELAR 970: Find Sources: Group Topics

Topic Resources and Searching Strategies

Some resources for African-American/Black Civil Rights:

Some possibilities for searching for biographies:

Frederick Douglass, A. Philip Randolph, Thurgood Marshall, Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, George Washington Carver, Malcolm X, Walter White (NAACP), James Farmer (CORE), Marion Anderson (performing arts), Jackie Robinson (sports), Rosa Parks, Booker T. Washington, Mary Church Terrell..

See the box below for biography databases.

Some resources for Asian-American Civil Rights:

Some possibilities for searching for biographies:

Robert Matsui, Patsy Mink, Daniel Inouye, Larry Dulay Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, Dalip Singh Saund, Miya Iwataki, Richard Masato Aoki, Noriko Sawada Bridges Flynn, Y.C. Hong, Yuri Kochiyama, Fred Korematsu, Alberta Lee, Karen Narasaki, Danny Seo, Shichan Siv, Takuji Yamashita....

See the box below for biography databases.

Some resources for Disability Rights:

Some possible searches for biographies:

Edward V. Roberts, Samuel Gridley Howe, Christopher Reeve, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Edward Roberts, Frank Bowe, I. King Jordan, Judy Heumann, Jacobus Broek, Paul Strachan...

See the box below for biography databases.

Some resources for LGBTQ+ Rights:

Some possible searches for biographies:

Harvey Milk, Vic Basile, Wayne Besen, Steven Donaldson, Steve Endean, Barney Frank, Barbara Gittings, Harry Hay, Brenda Howard, Frank Kameny, Craig Rodwell, Bayard Rustin, Jose Sarria, Ruth Simpson...

See the box below for biography databases.

Some resources for Latinx Rights:

Some possible searches for biographies:

Cesar Chavez, Lucy G. Acosta, Luis Alfaro, Elvira Arellano, Carlos Cardena, Sal Castro, Bert Corona, Ernesto Galarza, Hector P. Garcia, Rodolfo Gonzales, John J. Herrera, Delores Huerta, Mario G. Obledo, Baldemar Velasquez...

See below for some biography databases.

Some resources for Native American/Indigenous Peoples' Rights:

Some possible searches for biographies:

Hank Adams, Wallace "Mad Bear" Anderson, Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, Lyda Conley, Joe DeLaCruz, Deskaheh, John EchoHawk, Adam Fortunate Eagle, Billy Frank, Jr., LaDonna Harris, Russell Means, Richard Oakes, Luther Standing Bear, Sarah Winnemucca...

See the box below for biography databases.

Some resources for Women's Rights:

Some possible searches for biographies:

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Betty Friedan, Lucretia Mott, Carrie Chapman Catt, Alice Paul, Margaret Sanger,  Emma Goldman, Julia Ward Howe, Eleanor Smeal, Gloria Steinem, Lucy Stone,  Victoria Woodhull...

See the box below for biography databases.

The following tabs help explain library searching in order to more efficiently find and use sources for your research. Each covers a discrete idea.

The MC Library has access to different kinds of search tools: 

  • RaptorSearch: Searches across most of the information that you can access through the MC Library. Find books, e-books, streaming audio and video, and DVDs and CDs as well as articles and other electronic resources from databases available through the library.
  • Databases: Collections of articles, videos, images, or other types of sources. Some databases cover a wide range of subject areas or source types (multidisciplinary), while other databases are discipline or format based (e.g., PsycINFO or AP Images).

Use the tabs in the box below to find suggested databases or other search tools to use for a variety of types of sources. 

MC students, faculty, and staff can access all of our search tools and online resources from on or off-campus.

Research Skills & Tips:

Unlike Google, library databases can't understand an entire sentence. You'll need to break your topic down into the most important ideas: the keywords.

Keywords are individual words or short phrases that represent the main ideas in your topic, thesis, or research question. 

Example Question: What were the major moments in the civil rights movement of the 1960s? 

Keywords: civil rights movement, major moments, 1960s

After you've identified your main ideas and some keywords to start with, think of additional search terms for each concept. These can be synonyms, related ideas, broader terms, or narrower terms. Since a database will match only what you type, using different terms for similar ideas can help you find more articles. 

Example Search Terms: 

  • civil rights movement: Black rights, African-American rights
  • Major moments: milestones
  • 1960s: the sixties

Now that you have identified keywords, you will enter them in your chosen search tool's search box. Try more than one combination to find different sources.

Use the search operators AND & OR to combine your search terms. ​Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase, with the words in that exact order: "social media" 

Use AND between your main ideas to narrow your search (all words will be found in each source):

  • "civil rights" and milestones

Diagram shows overlap between gov't & free speech

 Use OR to look for related search terms, in one search (at least one of the search words will be found in each source). This will increase the number of sources you find. Put related search terms in parentheses, and combine with other terms: 
  • "civil rights movement" or Black rights

Diagram shows social media & internet highlighted

Research Skills & Tips:

Filter Results:

To make your results more manageable, use the database filters to limit your search results. For example:

  • Full-text access: To ensure that all items from your search results include the entire article or publication, select "full text" from filtering/refining options on the search results page.
  • Source types: If you know you only need peer-reviewed journal articles, select peer reviewed. Or, if you want to see only magazine articles, e-books, or another type of source, you can select only what you need. 
  • Publication date: If your sources must be from within the last five years, you can set the year of publication to reflect that. 

These options may be found in different locations of a database’s results page. In RaptorSearch, filter options are found on the left.

You can also set these options before you search from the Advanced Search screen in most databases. 

Sort Results:

Most database search results will be sorted by relevance. You can change this to sort by newest first, oldest first, etc. Look for the sort options near the top of the results list. 

Find Sources for ELAR 970

Databases for Biographies:

Multidisciplinary Databases:

Also known as scholarly articles, or academic articles. Some journal articles are "peer reviewed," which means they've gone through an extra review process before being published. 

When & Why to Use Journal Articles:

  • Information is based on research and expertise
  • Information is detailed and focused on a narrow topic
  • The peer-review process (mostly) ensures that the information is accurate
  • They add to a growing understanding of a topic by contributing new ideas 

Search:

Research Skills & Tips: 

When & Why to Use Scholarly Books:

  • You need to understand a complex topic (these are easier to read than journal articles)
  • You need very in-depth analysis of a topic
  • You need a broad understanding of one or more topics
  • You need a summary of existing research on a topic

Search:

The MC Library has access to streaming videos and audio (as well as DVDs and CDs). You can find documentaries, educational videos, and mainstream movies. 

When & Why to Use Videos:

  • You need to include an expert's point of view, and a documentary on your topic includes an interview 
  • You are doing a presentation and need to include a visual

Search:

Step 2: Find Sources

"Find Sources." Magnifying Glass.

To find sources, start by thinking about your research questions and the type of information you need. For example, you may need to search in different places to find statistics than you would if you need to find images. 

This page provides tips for how to develop a search strategy and also links to search tools you can use to find specific types of sources. 

As you search, consider the tips on the Evaluate Sources page, and assess each article, book, website or other source that you find.

Subjects: ELAP