Research Guides: Adult Students: Finding Resources

Research Preparation

When selecting a topic and preparing to research:

Think of what you already know about the subject.
Read general information to learn more specifics.
Break down the specifics into key topics.
List keywords from those topics.
Think and list synonyms for the keywords.
Use the basic keywords to search for articles and books, e.g., body image and media
Read and click on subject headings and author supplied keywords to find other interesting articles and books.

Evaluating Resources from University of Rhode Island Libraries

How to Search and Read Scholarly Articles

How to Videos

How to Videos
Learn how to use the library for research using these videos.

Find Articles

Use Atkins Library's databases to find relevant articles.

Databases by Subject

Popular databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
A great database to get started with for your research on any topic. Use it to search for articles from scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals, newspapers, and magazines.
CQ Researcher Online This link opens in a new window
Reports on social issues, public policy analysis, and political topics. Includes background information, chronologies, current analysis of the situation, tables and maps, and pro and con statements made by individuals with differing viewpoints. Dates back to 1991 for full-text articles.
NewsBank This link opens in a new window
Full-text newspaper articles covering international, national, and local news. Includes the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Charlotte Observer, and many others.
CINAHL Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides citations and full text articles primarily for nursing and allied health professionals. Coverage from 1937 to present.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides access to academic journals and books covering a wide range of disciplines; it also includes some limited primary source collections.
PsycINFO This link opens in a new window
Provides peer-reviewed literature in behavioral science and mental health and is produced by the American Psychological Association.
PubMed This link opens in a new window
Contains millions of citations for biomedical and health literature from MEDLINE and other sources. To access full text from Atkins Library's journal collections in addition to full-text content from PubMed Central and open access publications, use the links provided on Atkins Library web pages.
Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Covers the international literature of sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
Web of Science This link opens in a new window
This multidisciplinary database includes a citation mapping feature that allows you to track research across time, including almost 1.7 billion cited references allowing for comprehensive searches.

Find Books

Search Atkins Library's catalog for books, videos and more.

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