Databases to explore your topic
All of these databases give you background information and different points of view about different social, political, and cultural issues.
- CQ Researcher & Archives This link opens in a new windowEach single-themed report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist, footnoted and professionally fact checked. The consistent, reader-friendly organization provides researchers with an introductory overview, which poses and addresses relevant questions; a background and chronology on the topic; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; a pro/con debate by representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources.
- Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new windowOpposing Viewpoints in Context is the premier online resource covering today’s hottest social issues.
- Credo This link opens in a new windowCredo is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
- SIRS Issues Researcher This link opens in a new windowResearch the pros and cons of current issues and enduring social issues through full-text articles, multimedia, primary sources, government documents and reference materials.
- Points of View Reference Center This link opens in a new windowProvides a balance of materials from all viewpoints with main essays, leading political magazines from all sides of the political spectrum, newspapers, radio and television news transcripts, primary source documents and reference books.
Search for information
Search Belk Library's online system to find both library materials and articles in our databases. Use the search box below to do a basic search on library materials and databases.
Find academic or scholarly articles
These databases have articles that will include empirical research about all kinds of topics.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowIndex and abstracts of sociology, anthropology, criminology, demography, education law and penology, race relations, social psychology and urban studies. 1963-
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowHistorical Abstracts covers modern world history (excluding the United States and Canada which are covered in America: History and Life) from 1450 to the present.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAbstracts and index of international political science journals.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Coverage includes history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. Some current issues are available now.
- Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new windowCMMC offers full text and cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for journals covering communication, mass media, linguistics, discourse, rhetoric, sociolinguistics, communication theory, language, logic, organizational communication and other closely related fields of study.
- Databases listed by subjectI can't list all of them! But if your topic doesn't seem covered by the databases listed above, click here to find more possibilities.
Find Statistics and Data
- Pew Research CenterFrom the website - "Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions."
- Statista This link opens in a new windowStatistics, studies and reports from over 18,000 sources. Includes data from businesses, government departments, market research concerns or associations and more.
- Roper Center for Public Opinion Research This link opens in a new windowOne of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. 1930- present. Available only to Elon students, faculty and staff
