Research Mindset Tip
Have you found articles that sound like they address your research question, but you are having a difficult time understanding the article itself? That happens to everyone! Take a few minutes to learn some tactics for reading academic resources, and then be persistent and tackle some of that challenging reading. That's how you learn and grow from the experience.
Featured Resource
Would you like to know more about what has happened right here at the University of Iowa through the years? Dating back to 1868 the Daily Iowan Newspaper Collection provides access to digitized versions of The Daily Iowan and its predecessors: the University Reporter (1868-81), the Vidette (1879-81), the Vidette-Reporter (1881-1901) and the University Mirror (1881). The newspaper editions are full text searchable.
This resource is one of many available through the Iowa Digital Library.
Resources - A Selection of Databases available from The University of Iowa Libraries
A selection of just some of the many databases available for finding articles is listed below. Other indexes and databases can be found through the Find Resources section of the Library's website.
These databases help you locate relevant articles in scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers. In many cases, the full text of the article is available right in the database. When that is not the case, always click on the gold UILink 
button to see if we subscribe to the periodical in print or online. Chances are good that we do.
- Academic Search Elite This link opens in a new windowThis multi-disciplinary database offers full text for nearly 2,000 scholarly journals, including more than 1,500 peer-reviewed titles. Covering virtually every area of academic study, Academic Search Elite offers full text information dating as far back as 1985. This database is updated on a daily basis.
- Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new windowCurrent and archived information from thousands of local, regional, national, and international news sources. Find diverse perspectives on topics related to business and economics, controversial issues, criminal justice, education, environmental studies, health, international studies, performing and fine arts, political science, science, social issues and more from a variety of current and retrospective news media including newspapers, newswires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, periodicals, videos and web-only content. Includes the Chicago Tribune and some Iowa newspapers.
- Alt-Press Watch This link opens in a new windowFull-text database indexes over 250 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines. Includes selected abstracts from research journals. (Main Library Reference Area holds vol. 1- July 1969- to present in the paper edition.)
- America's News Magazines This link opens in a new windowCoverage of U.S. and international news, business, lifestyle, entertainment, sports, and science and technology from 26 familiar magazines.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowWritten by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked. CQ Researcher provides in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day.
- Ethnic Newswatch Complete This link opens in a new windowEthnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The database now also contains Ethnic NewsWatch: A History, which provides historical coverage of Native American, African American, and Hispanic American periodicals from 1959-1989
- Factiva This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are not accessible from Factiva. Contains a wide variety of financial information including business and economic news, text-search services, stock market quotations, financial and investment services and general news and information.
NB: 10 simultaneous user limit.
- Gale Opposing ViewpointsOpposing Viewpoints in Context offers an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information and opinions on hundreds of today's hottest social issues. Opposing Viewpoints in Context features continuously updated viewpoints, topic overviews, full-text magazines, academic journals, news articles, primary source documents, statistics, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites.
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowPrimarily a full text database with some abstracts that contains periodicals, academic journals, newsletters, magazines, regional publications, and government reports focused on gender and women's issues. [Not compatible with Internet Explorer 9]
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowClick on the "ViewIt@UILink" in your results list for UILink services including full text (when available), links to the InfoHawk+ Catalog, Interlibrary Loan requests and more. [TO USE THIS OPTION FROM OFF-CAMPUS: Additional information about Google Scholar]
- JSTOR (Journal Storage) This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, philosophy, mathematics and other fields of the humanities and social sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each titles. Journals may be searched across multiple titles as well as by the individual titles below
Note that this database comprises mostly back issues: for most titles the JSTOR database does NOT include full text of the most recent 3 to 5 years. - New York Times (nytimes.com) This link opens in a new windowAccess to the nytimes.com. How to access the UI LIbraries subscription to the nytimes.com:
Register at http://AccessNYT.com and then use https://www.nytimes.com/ for access afterwards. You must register annually to keep access.
After registration you will be able to access the resource on any device. Access news articles from 1980 to the present. When accessing it on campus we have NO access to 1923-1980 but if you are off-campus you have 5 articles per day for 1923-1980 content (due to a lawsuit between publisher and vendor), all other years are available on and off campus.
Note: Our subscription does include the NYT Book Review; does not include the full size crossword puzzle. - New York Times, 1851-2019 (Proquest Historical Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowFull-text access to the New York Times from 1851 (New York Daily Times) to 2019.
- Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis) This link opens in a new windowTURN OFF POP-UP BLOCKER; Researchers can quickly and easily search full-text documents from over 17,000 credible sources of information and pinpoint relevant information for a wide range of academic research projects. Extensive legal sources for federal and state cases and statutes, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 1790
- Project Muse This link opens in a new windowWith full text for well over 300 journal titles from university publishers, Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, and many others. Coverage begins in 1995.
- ProQuest Archive Finder This link opens in a new window
Archive Finder is a current directory of over 5,750 repositories and over 206,000 collections of primary source material housed across the United States and the United Kingdom. Archive Finder draws from three major information sources: the Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States (DAMRUS), the National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC), and the National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (NIDS).
Archive Finder provides information for these types of primary source material:
- Collections of original manuscript materials such as family papers, personal papers, and collections about a person or subject. This can include printed material, maps, and photographs if it is part of a larger manuscript or archival collection.
- Single item manuscripts such as diaries, logbooks, account books, or letters
- Collections of private company or government archives provided that they are regularly available to the public
- Collections consisting entirely of handwritten, typewritten, or photo-reproduced copies of manuscripts or archives
- Oral history records consisting of tapes and/or transcripts of interviews.
This product is updated annually. - Readers' Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new windowA comprehensive index to the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States. This database is available through WilsonWeb and covers the time period from 1890-1982. (Formerly on WilsonWeb)
Newspapers
- Gazette (Cedar Rapids) This link opens in a new window Available from NewsBank Access World News. Date range: 1992-
- Des Moines Register (Proquest Digital Microfilm) This link opens in a new window Digital newspaper for Des Moines, Iowa. Current content with a delayed 3 months.
- Access World News Research Collection This link opens in a new window Current and archived information from thousands of local, regional, national, and international news sources. Find diverse perspectives on topics related to business and economics, controversial issues, criminal justice, education, environmental studies, health, international studies, performing and fine arts, political science, science, social issues and more from a variety of current and retrospective news media including newspapers, newswires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, periodicals, videos and web-only content. Includes the Chicago Tribune and some Iowa newspapers.
- News and Newspapers Research guide to help you search and locate newspaper articles
Search Tips
Here are some basic searching tips to use when searching a library database. Ask a librarian for more help if you are not finding the type of information you need about your topic.
1. Keywords, Broader terms, Narrower terms
Use a variety of keywords to describe your topic. If you begin your research by using reference materials such as encyclopedias, you will often run across vocabulary to describe your topic that you may not have thought of on your own. Use this worksheet to help you brainstorm: http://bit.ly/research-topic-worksheet
- global warming OR climate change
- alternative fuel OR ethanol OR hydrogen OR carbon dioxide OR emissions
- "war on drugs"
- "interpersonal relationship*"
- "climate change"
- flood* → flood, floods, flooded, flooding
- econom* → economy, economic, economical
- psycholog* → psychology, psychological, psychologist
- (television OR TV) AND (women OR female)
- "war on drugs" AND Mexic* AND (United States OR America*)
- dolphins NOT football
Visualizing a Library Database
Library databases are some of the most powerful tools you have available for finding information. We have hundreds of databases to choose from, but maybe we should start by trying to visualize what a library database is.
For best viewing, click 'Start Prezi' and then expand the presentation by clicking the diagonal arrows icon in the lower-right corner. Click escape when you are ready to leave full-screen mode.
Lesson - From Idea to Library
As a student at the University of Iowa, you have access to an incredible wealth of information resources available to you through your library. We subscribe to databases that will help you find the magazine, journal, and newspaper articles you need for your academic research. To get started, watch this short tutorial about how information goes from an idea to having a home in a library.
Lesson - Scholarly vs. Popular Resources
What is Peer Review...in 3 minutes
Here are the basic things to look for when trying to determine if you're looking at a scholarly or a popular publication:
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Scholarly Journals
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Popular publications
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If, after examining a publication for these features, you still can't tell if it's scholarly/peer-reviewed, search UlrichsWeb for the publication title.