Introduction to Public Speaking (Leage)

Find Focused Material (often short)

Articles usually have a specific focus, are relatively short, and are relatively current. Use databases to track down articles in journals. Some databases, particularly the general ones, include the full text of the article. You can find the databases by going to the library's home page and selecting "Electronic Resources." Type in the name of the database that you need from the "Quick Search" menu.

Selected General Databases

Academic Search Premier
Expanded Academic ASAP
These are both general-purpose databases, and you can be sure of finding articles on any topic.
LexisNexis Academic
This is an excellent source of current news and events. It is not recommended for in-depth criticism or for highly specialized research in most fields.

Selected Specialized Resources

Art Abstracts — Art and architecture
ERIC — Education and related fields
General Science Abstracts — Science
America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts — U.S. & Canadian history; World history
MLA International Bibliography — Literary criticism; linguistics; folklore
PsycINFO — Psychology and related fields
Sociological Abstracts
These are examples of databases that cover different fields in depth.

Find other databases by subject.

Find Arguments Pro & Con

CQ Researcher
MAIN Reference 070.4 E23 (1991–2005)
Online (1923–present)
Internet Public Library
Issues and Controversies on File. New York, NY: Facts on File Inc., 1995.
MAIN Reference 973.005 I86
Librarians' Internet Index
Polling the Nations
Public opinion

Find Supporting Material using the Catalog

Use NUcat (the online catalog) to identify books that the library has, as well as journal titles, microfilm, videos, and other catalogued material. Books are excellent sources of overviews and substantial material on a particular topic, but do not necessarily reflect the most current events. NUcat will also tell you whether material is in the main library or in another Northwestern University library.

Find Background Information

Sources for background information include handbooks and guides as well as specialized encyclopedias that reference librarians can show you. In addition, other types of reference resources include biographies, dictionaries, atlases and much, much more. There is a wealth of material available for you to use. Ask us!

Selected Print Resources

Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol & Addictive Behavior. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001.
MAIN Reference 362.2903 E61 2001

Rainforests of the World: A Reference Handbook. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, 2001.
MAIN Reference 574.52642 G285r 2001

American Homelessness: A Reference Handbook. 3rd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, 2001.
MAIN Reference 362.50973 H764a 2001

Cults: A Reference Handbook. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, 2005.
MAIN Reference 291 L674c 2005

Hate Crimes: A Bibliography. Santa Cruz, Calif.: Reference and Research Service, 2002.
MAIN Reference 016.36415 N832h

Find Current Material and News

Chicago Tribune (1849–1985) (current issues in Newspaper Source)
CQ Weekly
In-depth reports on congressional issues
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full-text articles from 200+ newspapers and magazines of the ethnic and minority press
Global Newsbank
Includes pointers to "hot topics"
LexisNexis Academic
Includes current issues of newspapers
Newspaper Source
New York Times (1851–2003) (current issues in LexisNexis Academic)

Statistical Material and Data

Statistical Abstract of the United States
MAIN Reference 312.73 U581
MAIN Government Pub C 3. 134:
Online

LexisNexis Statistical

Putting it all together

Collect your material in one place online using EndNote

When you're doing your research, for either your presentation or your final paper, you normally collect information — citations, page references, etc. — that you will later put into a bibliography. (A bibliography shows what sources you've used and what you've based your arguments on.) The problem often is that this information gets written on scraps of paper or in a notebook; but at any rate, you usually end up retyping it at least once when you create your bibliography. EndNote allows you to enter the data ONCE — and then format it for output MANY TIMES. And you can conveniently collect all of your material in the same place, sorting it by class or by whatever arrangement you need.

After you download EndNote and install it on your computer, you will be able to use it to access licensed databases no matter where you are. Additional information is available from the Reference Department's website, and we will also offer several workshops this fall.

Cite your material in a standard format

• Citation Style for Research Paper: APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc.
• Online! Citation Styles
  This site is helpful for citing material from websites, listserv messages, etc.
• Chicago Manual of Style
  MAIN Reference Desk 655.2 C53 2003