The resources below are categorized by the type of information provided. This listing is not exhaustive, so do consult with a librarian if you need comprehensive coverage.
Before you start searching for information, consider the TYPE of information you desire/require. This step is as important as the later critical analysis you wil perform to evaluate the relevance, balance, and currency of your discovered information.
FACTS/DEFINITIONS:
You can locate reliable facts, summaries of topics from dictionaries and encyclopedias, and background information about topics using resources such as CREDO on our Facts/Definitions page.
You will use the following tools to find expert opinions and research reports:
RESEARCH REPORTS and EXPERT OPINION (in journals)
Academic Search Complete. Full text journal and magazine articles from approximately 800 Core journals across many fields. Some news resources. Good for basic coverage of topics.
Central Index. Broad coverage of interdisciplinary journals and other materials.
Communication and Mass Media Complete. NOTE: replaced by the Central Index database.
Scopus. Links to selected articles in many areas of the social sciences; includes citation tracking and ranking articles by high impact according to the Cited By option.
Google Scholar. Links to selected interdisciplinary journal articles.
RESEARCH REPORTS and EXPERT OPINION (in books)
Expert opinions can be found in books: see our local book catalog for searching. You may want to expand your search to the I-Share state-wide catalog using the drop-down below the search box), or our electronic book page.
Regional Business News. Articles from business journals, newspapers and newswires.
Newspaper Source. Articles from regional United States newspapers, international newspapers, and newswires.
Wall Street Journal (1984 to the present)
Chicago Tribune. Articles from 1985 to the present. For articles from 1849 to 1984, use the Chicago Tribune historical files.
New York Times. Articles from 1851 to 2010. For articles after 2010, use Nexis Uni.
Nexis Uni (new interface to Lexis-Nexis). Journal articles, newspapers (including the New York Times since 2002), wire services, broadcast transcripts, United States federal and state case law.
Google News Newspaper Archive Includes hundreds of historic newspapers digitized and/or indexed by Google through their News Archive Partner Program.
Ethnic Newswatch. Articles from over 340 alternative-press newspapers, magazines and journals. Includes the Chicago Citizen (1991-), Chicago Defender (1999-), Chicago Independent Bulletin (1996-2007), Chicago Jewish Star (1993-), Chicago Reporter (2009-), and Chicago Weekend (1992-).
TV News. Search and view transcripts from selected United States programs since 2009.
C-Span Video Library. Follow Congress, the White House, and the courts
Nexis Uni. From news resources.
World Bank Data. Information about socioeconomic development.
SimplyAnalytics (was SimplyMap) Census data, business data, and business points that can be manipulated and mapped. You can rank locations based on variables, create demographic analyses, and map variables to the county or sometimes the census Block. If you sign in as a guest, you won’t need to create an account. Accounts are needed only to save search parameters and data results.
U.S. Data Sources ... a set of pointers from the EconLib web site ... see also the U.S. Government's overall website, FirstGov for an ambitious organized set of links to government agencies and services, both federal and state.
World Data Sources... a set of pointers from the EconLib web site.
DATA: Data can be found using the resources found on our Statistics and our Handling Information and Data pages.
Academic Video Online. Online streaming video on many academic topics.
American History in Video. Newsreels, archival footage and important documentaries.
Films on Demand. Over 6,000 streaming videos in all topic areas, searchable by subject, title, or special collection.
TV News. Search and view transcripts from selected United States programs since 2009.
C-Span Video Library. Follow Congress, the White House, and the courts.
Subject-Specific Portals (for non-published information, teaching tools, equipment, and software):
♦ American Communication Association: Committed to enabling the effective use of new and evolving technologies to facilitate communication instruction, research and criticism, and to offering a technologically supportive venue for all who study the ways in which humans communicate.
♦ Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication: To promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, cultivate the widest possible range of communication research, encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of communication in an effort to achieve better professional practice and a better informed public.
♦ International Communication Association: To advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide.
♦ National Communication Association: Advances Communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry.
♦ NCA List of Communication Theories: The contents of this volume were drawn from briefly stated Communication theories, concepts, or research findings that were collected from NCA divisions and posted to the association's website.
♦ Newspaper Association of America: Focuses on the major issues that affect today's newspaper industry: public policy/legal matters, advertising revenue growth and audience development across the medium's broad portfolio of products and digital platforms.
H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online Contains lists and web sites for peer reviewed essays, multimedia materials, and discussion for colleagues and the interested public.