Guides: ENG 101 English Composition: Home

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Librarian

elizabeth.parang@pepperdine.edu

Contact:

Pepperdine University Libraries
24255 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90263

310-506-4046

Subjects: African American Studies, American Studies, Art, Art History, Creative Writing, Education, Humanities, Music, Theatre Arts

Researching Controversial Issues

When you see something of interest, note the terminology that is used in the discussion. Try to isolate key concept words or key phrases to use when searching the online catalog and electronic databases.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Information on social issues including articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, interactive maps, videos, and streaming audio.
CQ Researcher
Provides access to the most current and controversial issues of the day with a new single-themed, 12,000-word report published weekly.

Locating Scholarly Articles

This database features a box you can check to limit your search to scholarly/peer-reviewed articles.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides full text coverage to peer-reviewed titles in the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education and more.

Scholarly Databases

These databases contain scholarly journals in a wide variety of subjects.

JSTOR
Archive of interdisciplinary journals and books, covering the Arts, Business & Economics, History, Humanities, Law, Science & Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Religion.
Project MUSE
Provides online access to the full-text of over 300 scholarly journals in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and mathematics covering the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies.

Researching Newspapers and Current Issues

Nexis Uni
Features news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis®—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. For help on how to use Nexis Uni, visit the research guide.This database is only available to current Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff.
U.S. Major Dailies (ProQuest Newspapers)
Access to The New York Times (1980 - present), Washington Post (1987 - present), Los Angeles Times (1985 - present), Chicago Tribune, (1985 - present), and Wall Street Journal (1984 - present).
Newspaper Source
National & international papers include: The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Times (London), Toronto Star
Regional papers include: The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, The Miami Herald, Daily News (New York), San Jose Mercury News.
Television & radio news transcripts from CBS News, CNN, FOX News, NPR, and others.

NYTimes.com

Pepperdine Libraries now provide full complimentary access to NYTimes.com, New York Times mobile apps, and New York Times in Education to Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff.

Access to NYTimes.com provides:

Tools to stay informed on the latest in world and national news, business, the arts, technology, travel, opinion, science, medicine and more
Breaking news articles, blogs, videos and interactive features
The option to save articles of interest and share via email and social media
Visit this link to create a free NYTimes accoutn by clicking on "Account". Sign up using your Pepperdine e-mail address.

Wikipedia vs. Reference Books

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written collaboratively; anyone with internet access can write and edit Wikipedia articles. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or, if they choose to, with their real identity.

Gale Virtual Referance Library (GVRL) is a collection of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources; these trusted, authoritative reference works are available 24/7 Titles can be searched alone, by subject, or all titles can be searched together.

Whether you are researching a topic that's new to you or just need a few quick facts, reliable information can be found in reference books.