Summon
Summon searches across 80% of our library content with just a few keywords. You can change the publication dates, limit your results to full text, to scholarly materials, or to any combination of document types. Enter your keywords in the search box below to search Summon.
Watch the short video below for tips on using Summon effectively.
Data & Statistics
The best place to find data and statistics on virtually any topic is government departmental websites. Don't see anything related to your topic? Google "your topic + statistics site:.gov" to find your topic on government websites.
- Data.census.gov/cedsci/This resource replaces the now defunct American FactFinder. This is the U.S. Census Bureau's main vehicle for distributing U.S. census data, including economic censuses and surveys and annual population estimates. Population, housing, economic and geographic data can be found here.
- Data.govThe purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets.
- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) A-Z IndexAlphabetical listing of government information on topics related to environmental issues.
- Federal Bureau of Prisons: Research & ReportsLinks to Bureau of Prisons data, plus links to related resources.
- HHS Home PageUse the HHS home page to find topics on adoption, aging, child care, child support, civil rights, family assistance, food safety, grants, HIV/AIDS, Medicaid, mental health, smoking, substance abuse, teen pregnancy and more.
- National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports covering virtually every aspect of U.S. agriculture. Production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm finances, chemical use, and changes in the demographics of U.S. producers are only a few examples.
- National Center for Education StatisticsThe NCES gathers official statistics on the condition of education, including adult education and literacy.
- Pew Research CenterThe Pew Research Center supports a number of more specialized research center. Among their publications are polls for the United States and other countries.
- USA.govSearch and browse government agencies.
More Specialized Library Research Databases/ Scholarly Articles
You can search all of EBSCO to identify scholarly and non-scholarly articles. However, you may have better results if you use a morespecialized article database depending on how discipline-specific your topic is. For example, if you select a topic that has something to do with teacher compensation at charter schools, using an education database will mostly return results from an education-related perspective. Below are a few specialized databases. You can also use our full listing of databases.
- Business Source CompleteProvides information on all disciplines of business. In addition to journal and magazine articles, content includes financial data, books, conference proceedings, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, country reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses and more.
- Education Research CompleteA comprehensive database of articles about all fields of education, including curriculum instruction, administration, policy, funding, and related social issues. Most coverage is from 1925 to present, but some titles go back as far as 1882.
- GreenFILEGreenFILE offers well-researched but accessible information covering all aspects of human impact on the environment. Topics covered include global warming, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling, and more.
- PsycINFO 1887-CurrentThe premier index to journal articles and other scholarly publications in the field of psychology.
- SocINDEX with Full TextIndex to scholarly publications in sociology, covering topics such as criminal justice, marriage and family, social work, substance abuse, and violence.
Research Databases for Finding Information about Speech Topics
You may want to begin by doing some background research on your topic. The following databases provide short readings on topics, newspaper/magazine articles, pro/con discussions, and counterpoints.
- CQ ResearcherIn-depth, analytical reports on current issues in the news, particularly controversial social and legal issues involving health, education, criminal justice, international affairs, the environment and the economy.
- Points of View Reference CenterThe perfect resource for writing persuasive essays! Search by topic to find an overview (objective background/description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument) on each. Search for current events or controversial topics to find materials supporting a variety of viewpoints. Includes essays and articles from leading political magazines from all sides of the political spectrum, newspapers, radio & TV news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books.
- Very Short IntroductionsHundreds of short ebooks (around 100 pages each) that offer concise expert overviews of a diverse range of concepts. Subjects include climate, consciousness, game theory, ancient warfare, economics, and literary theory.
Alternate access link: http://proxy.ohiolink.edu:9099/login?url=https://academic.oup.com/pages/very-short-introductions
- TOPICsearchFull text articles about current social, political and economic issues, scientific discoveries, and other popular topics.
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Visual Aides Best Bets
- StatistaStatista is an online statistics portal providing access to data from market and opinion research institutions, as well as from business organizations and government institutions.
- ARTstor
Over one million images in the areas of art, architecture, the humanities, and social sciences with a set of tools to view, present, and manage images for research and teaching.
All users must register for a personal Artstor account in order to download images. Use the "register" link at the upper right after accessing the database. Licensed for BGSU Main Campus Users only. Note: Artstor is integrating with JSTOR: Access to Artstor will end August 1st, 2024. Visit the JSTOR images page.