Now that you've gathered background information and refined your research question, let's search for academic or scholarly sources that address your focused research question more specifically. Databases are the best tools for finding these kinds of sources.
Databases are tools you can use to search the content within them. The databases provided by the BGSU Libraries contain and organize content from scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, newspapers, eBooks, and more.
We recommend Academic Search Complete as a good starting point because it is a general database, meaning there are a variety of subjects represented within it.
Library Search is another good place to start. Like Academic Search Complete, there are a variety of subjects represented within it; however, it can be a little overwhelming because of the sheer number of resources it can retrieve (any physical items in the library - books, archives, government documents, along with streaming media, eBooks, and articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers). If you would like to try Library Search, instruction videos for how to use it are available in the left column on this page.
Yes! See the "search strategies" tab for more information about how to search databases effectively.
Coverage: 1887 to present; most full text is 1975 to present.
Users they may not use the Databases and Services in combination with an artificial intelligence tool (including to train an algorithm, test, process, analyze, generate output and/or develop any form of artificial intelligence tool). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, Licensee and Authorized Users may use, transmit, view, or store the content or outputs from the Database, Services, or e-content in any software tools and/or systems that may have artificial intelligence tools running therein.
You may need to use a more specialized research database. For example, if you select a topic that has something to do with teacher compensation at charter schools, you could use an education database to explore the perspectives of educators and school administrators.
Use our A-Z databases link (below) for an alphabetical list of research databases. You can get to the same list from the library home page by using the link labeled "all databases".
You will see "peer reviewed" or "academic journal" labels in your EBSCO search results to indicate that the item was published in an academic journal. However, not all articles will be suitable for your assignment. You will still need to examine each article to be sure that it meets the requirements of your assignment and is relevant to your research question. If you are unsure, ask your instructor for clarification.
The handout below provides descriptions of the different types of articles published in academic journals.