Using Electronic Resources for Study Abroad Research

Study Abroad Research Program (SARP)

Look for Information on a Topic

Don't know where to start? Northwestern subscribes to several hundred journal article databases.
Selected General Databases
Academic Search Premier [lots of full-text articles]
Expanded Academic Index [lots of full-text articles]
LexisNexis Academic [full-text newspapers, many foreign newspapers]
Factiva [similar to LexisNexis but not as fragmented]
JSTOR [full text of high quality journals, "moving wall" means latest 3-5 years are NOT included]
Find other general databases.

Fishing expeditions

Journal article databases allow you to perform complex searches within a limited scope of material. Einstein QuickStart and Google Scholar are two tools that let you search very broadly but with less precision. This can be helpful early in the research process. Be sure to set your preferences in Google Scholar so you can link to NU resources.

Use specialized databases to find material that is in research periodicals. Remember, Not all database have full text of the articles they index. Use the button to find the full article.

Finding Books

Use NUcat (the online catalog) to identify books and journal titles that are available electronically. (Limit the search to Location Electronic Resources.) More on How to Find a Book

Selected Specialized Databases

Subject databases:

Business / Finance / Economics / Organizational Studies
ABI/INFORM Global
Business Source Premier
EconLit
 SPORTDiscus
more

Family and Gender Studies
Family & Society Studies Worldwide
Gender Studies Database (includes Men's Studies, Women's Studies International and Sexual Diversity Studies)
GenderWatch
more

Health and Medicine
African HealthLine
AIDSearch
Medline
more

Law
LexisNexis Academic Select "Legal" under "Easy Search" or "All Law Reviews" under "Power Search"

Political Science / Public Affairs
CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
PAIS International
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
more

Polling and Public Opinion
Gallup Brain
Polling the Nations

Religion
ATLA
Index Islamicus

Sociology / Anthropology
Anthropology Plus Index to scholarly articles on anthropology, ethnology, archaeology and cultural studies.
Anthrosource Fulltext articles from journals published by the American Anthropological Association
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
Sociological Abstracts

Statistics
LexisNexis Statistical
More statistics resources

Area studies:

Africa
AllAfrica.com African News Sources
International Index to Black Periodicals Full Text
Sabinet Online
more

Latin America
HLAS Online: Handbook of Latin American Studies
Latinnews.com

Find other databases by subject.

Take a look at the Research Guides A-Z prepared by the Library's subject specialists.

Using Databases outside the Library

Most of the Library's databases are restricted to members of the NU community. When you are outside the Library, whether across the street or halfway around the world, you will need to authenticate yourself before you can use the databases. When you connect from the Library's website, you will be prompted for your NetID and password and passed through to the resource.

Additional Resources

Government Information and Publications
The Government and Geographic Information and Data Services is a depository library for U.S. government, State of Illinois, United Nations, Organization of American States, European Union, and World Tourism Organization publications in all formats. Visit the department before you leave to get statistics, policy documents, or other material that will be helpful in your research at this side. Their webpage also includes links to foreign government sites.

Foreign Newspapers
Get acquainted with your country before you leave! The Periodicals & Newspapers Reading Room has several newspapers from other countries that you can browse. You can also read newspapers of the country through any of the following sources:
Global NewsBank
LexisNexis Academic
Newspaper Source

Country Information

Reference Sources

Annual Reviews

Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Great Barrington, Mass.,: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2005.

Cities of the World. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., 2002.

Countries and their cultures. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 306.03 C855

Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2006.
MAIN Reference (Encyclopedia case) (Non-circulating) 301.03 E557

Encyclopedia of Folk Medicine : Old World and New World Traditions. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Abc-Clio, 2004.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 615.8803 H362e

Encyclopedia of Human Development. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2006.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 155.03 E56

Encyclopedia of International Development. London ; New York: Routledge, 2005.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 338.9003 E56

Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. New York: Macmillan Reference USA : Thomson/Gale, 2004.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 909.09767 E56

Encyclopedia of Religion
MAIN Reference (Encyclopedia case)
Call number: 200.321 E56 2005

Encyclopedia of Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000.
MAIN Reference (Encyclopedia case) (Non-circulating) 301.03 E565 2000
MAIN Core (Reference) 301.03 E565 2000
SCHAFFNER Reference (Non-circulating) 301.03 E565 2000

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2nd ed. Detroit, Mich.: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 956.003 E56 2004

Encyclopedia of world cultures. Boston, Mass.: G.K. Hall, 1991.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 306.03 E56

Encyclopedia of World Poverty. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE Publications, 2006.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 362.503 E56

The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Women's Issues Worldwide. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2003.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 305.403 G8157

Handbook of research design & social measurement. 6th ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2002.
MAIN Library 302.072 M647h

Handbook of social theory. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 301.01 H236

International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003.
MAIN Reference (Non-circulating) 306.803 E56 2003

Putting it all together

Cite your material in a standard format

APA Style (An online guide from Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL))
The complete APA style manual, officially called Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition, 2001 is located at the Reference Desk at call number 029.6 A513p 2001

MLA Style (An online guide from Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL))
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition, 2003 is located at the Reference Desk at call number 808.02 M685 2003

Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, 2003, is available online or in the Reference Room and Core at call number 655.2 C53 2003

Turabian, a version of the Chicago Manual of Style geared toward writers of term papers. The 6th edition, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian, is located at call number 029.6 T929m 1996 at the Reference Desk.

Bibliographic Software

EndNote is a software program that helps you keep track of your reading. You can store information about books and articles so you can find them again when you need them. It also works with Microsoft Word to automatically format citations, footnotes and bibliographies.

For more information check the EndNote support page.

Need Help? Ask a librarian

If something doesn't work right, or if you can't find what you need, get in touch with the Reference Librarians.
Call us at 847-491-7656
E-mail us at refdept@northwestern.edu
or connect with us real-time through Answers Online or IM

Take advantage of a Research Consultations--meet with a librarian one on one for personalized, in-depth help.