Research Skills for Developing Writers: Using Databases

An introductory guide to help multilingual undergraduate writers at the U develop their research skills.

Article Databases

This lesson helps you discover two major databases available through the Marriott Library-- CQ Researcher and Academic Search Premier.  A database is a source that stores thousands of periodicals.  Periodicals are great resources for research because they are current, relevant, and contain a lot of specific information in fewer pages than a book.  

CQ Researcher is a database where you can find an unbiased review of a controversial topic.  The reports are very straight-forward and use simple terms.  

Academic Search Premier is one of the largest multi-disciplinary databases that exists.  It has access to a LOT more information than CQ Researcher on almost any topic you could think of.  For example, you can find articles from the popular magazines and newspapers, as well as articles from scholarly and peer-reviewed journals.  This is an excellent database to begin any research project.  

NOTE:  When you are off-campus, to gain access all Marriott Library databases, you MUST click on the KEY "Off-Campus Access" on the main page of the Marriott Library.  You only need to log in ONCE with your uNID and password.

 (← Click this button on the MLIB homepage)

CQ Researcher

Marriott Library → KEY: Off Campus Access → Article Databases → "C" → CQ Researcher

Video Vocabulary

Go to the Glossary to see some synonyms for some of the words used in the videos.

Next: Language for Effective Searches

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