Guides: ENG 100 Composition for ELL Students (Julie Quarles): Home

Learn the History of Words

Oxford English Dictionary This link opens in a new window
The accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium: the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over more than 600,000 words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 3 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources.

Every three months updates revise existing entries and add new words

Merriam-Webster
Fun with words from America's leading provider of language information
Dictionary.com
source for definitions, word origins, and a whole lot more, including the stories behind today's slang
Lexico
a collaboration between Dictionary.com and Oxford University Press (OUP) featuring UK English and Spanish

Getting Started Researching a Topic

For a broad discussion of a topic, locate a book using the library catalog. The search box in the center of the library home page allows you to do a keyword search of the library catalog. Books can give a general introduction to a topic; journal articles focus on a narrow aspect of a topic.

Find Background Information

Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Access to encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Titles can be searched alone, by subject, or all titles can be searched together.

Get Help in the Writing Center

Search Pepperdine's eBook Collections

Find Information on People

Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
Provides biographical information on more than 528,000 people throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. The database also provides full-text articles from over 350 magazines and newspapers and includes more than 27,000 images plus links to Web sites tied to the lives and works of the subjects.

Some 50,000 new and/or updated biographies are added each year, as well as daily status updates of existing subjects

Find Articles in EBSCOhost databases

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides full text coverage to nearly 9,100 journals, including over 7,900 peer-reviewed titles in the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education and more. Full-text coverage dates back to 1985 and is updated daily.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
An index of journal articles, books, and dissertations, the electronic version of the Bibliography dates back to the 1920s and contains over 2.5 million citations from more than 5,000 journals and series and 1,200 book publishers. Coverage is international and subjects include literature, language and linguistics, folklore, literary theory and criticism, dramatic arts, as well as the historical aspects of printing and publishing.

In addition, the MLA Directory of Periodicals and their proprietary thesaurus used to assign descriptors within the Bibliography are included.
Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Access to content from CommSearch and Mass Media Articles Index along with numerous other journals in communication, mass media, and other closely-related fields of study. CMMC offers cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 620 journals, and selected coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 820 titles.
Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Newspaper Source provides cover-to-cover full text for 40 national (U.S.) & international newspapers, including The Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Times (London), Toronto Star, etc. The database also contains selected full text for more than 330 regional (U.S.) newspapers, including The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Detroit Free Press, The Miami Herald, Daily News (New York), San Jose Mercury News, etc.

Full text television & radio news transcripts are provided from CBS News, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, NPR, and others
Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Access to the definitive online tool for film and television research. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, screenwriting, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews. The database provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 380 publications (and selected coverage of 300), as well as full text for more than 120 journals, and 100 books.

In addition, Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text includes Variety movie reviews from 1914 to the present and over 36,300 images from the MPTV Image Archive.

Locate Information on Current Topics

Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
A complete one-stop source for information on social issues. Users have access to viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents, links to websites, interactive maps, videos, streaming audio, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

From immigration to stem cells to texting-while-driving, Opposing Viewpoints in Context delivers 13,000+ pro/con views, 1,000+ court case overviews, and thousands more topic overviews, biographies and profiles.

Watch Streaming Video

Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive video subscription delivering almost 70,000 titles spanning subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more