Research Tools

Databases and Websites

Below are links with explanations for databases and websites that can assist students with finding valid and reliable resources for all types of research and classroom projects.

EBSCOhost  is a subscription database where students have access to valid and reliable information for all types of research assignments.  Students can access EBSCO through Classlink.

Opposing Viewpoints is a subscription database that brings together academic articles, audio, videos, opinion essays and primary sources about contemporary controversies and hot topics. The password is hawks.

Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, universities and other web sites. Google Scholar helps you find relevant work across the world of scholarly research.

Yippy is a metasearch engine that clusters search results by topic for a  more visual view of search results.  

DuckDuckGo is an internet search engine that emphasizes protecting searchers' privacy and does not profile users based on their search criteria.

WolframAlpha is a computational knowledge engine or answer engine.  It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from externally sourced "curated data" rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that could contain the answer, as a search engine might.  

JSTOR  is a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways.

ProCon.org is a website presenting the pros and cons of contemporary issues.

National Center for Biotechnology Information  is a website that advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. 

FactCheck.org is a nonpartisan and nonprofit whose goal is to increase public knowledge and understanding by fact checking politicians, advertisers, speeches, news releases, and more for accuracy and reporting on the results.

Room for Debate is sponsored by the New York Times.  The opinion essays on this site are written by "knowledgeable outside contributors" on a wide variety of topics.

New York Times: Public Agenda is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on "improving dialog and collaboration among leaders and communities." The site includes original reports and surveys. It is a good site for finding or focusing a topic, especially current-interest or controversial topics.

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American fact tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world.

Howstuffworks provides detailed information to help students support or refute arguments.

The Library of Congress provides access to a variety of online collections.