Gather Background Information
Before diving into the hardcore research aspect of FYRS, it can be helpful to learn some basics about your topic. Encyclopedia entries will give you background information on a topic as well as provide timelines, keywords, and the names of important figures related to your topic. Experts write the articles in encyclopedias and they usually include a further reading list or bibliography which can be a great jump start for sources on your topic.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology. - GVRL - Gale Virtual Reference Library Encyclopedias This link opens in a new window
Search many top encyclopedias on multiple topics for background information on your topic. Articles in these encyclopedias are written by experts. - Encyclopedia Britannica Academic Edition This link opens in a new window
Trusted current reference for academic and special libraries.
Research 101
You will not find all the information you need in one place nor will you find it using a single search term. Collect keywords as you search. Use keywords in various combinations to focus your search and refine your results list. Gather information from a wide variety of sources (encyclopedias, journal articles, book chapters, reviews, etc.). Synthesize the information you find to support your thesis. Remember to give credit when using the words or ideas of others.
Use Keywords
As you explore topics, develop a keyword list for each topic of interest. Brainstorm for synonyms, names of events and people for your topics. Add to the list as you delve into encyclopedia articles, journal articles and other resources. Combine keywords together to focus your searches.
Find Articles
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - Communications and Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Provides articles in areas related to communication and mass media. CMMC offers cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 500 journals, and selected coverage of nearly 200 more, for a combined coverage of more than 690 titles. Furthermore, this database includes full text for over 380 journals. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall). - PsycArticles This link opens in a new window
PsycARTICLES®, from the American Psychological Association (APA), is a definitive source of full text, peer-reviewed scholarly and scientific articles in psychology. It contains more than 153,000 articles from nearly 80 journals published by the American Psychological Association (APA), its imprint the Educational Publishing Foundation (EPF), and from allied organizations including the Canadian Psychological Association and the Hogrefe Publishing Group. It includes all journal articles, book reviews, letters to the editor, and errata from each journal. Coverage spans 1894 to the present and nearly all APA journals go back to Volume 1, Issue 1.
Need more options? Library Databases A-Z
Need a specific journal? Journals A-Z
News Resources
- NPR (National Public Radio) National Public Radio is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that delivers breaking national and world news. Also top stories from business, politics, health, science, technology, music, arts and culture.
- Newsbank : America's News This link opens in a new window
America’s News covers newspapers from around the country. Updated daily, this resource offers current and archived articles and video clips from news sources nationwide. It includes content for the Lexington Herald Leader. - Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window
Provides selected full text for 25 national (U.S.) and international newspapers. The database also contains full text television & radio news transcripts, and selected full text for more than 200 regional (U.S.) newspapers. - New York Times Academic Pass This link opens in a new window
To get full access to the nytimes.com website create an account at the site linked above using your Transy.edu email address. Don't forget to check your email to verify. - WSJ.com (The Wall Street Journal) sign up This link opens in a new window
Get full access to the business newspaper of record, The Wall Street Journal, website using your Transy.edu email address. Create your personal account at http://wsj.com/transy, then go to your email to verify. Read the Wall Street Journal at wsj.com
Possible Catalog Searches
Here are some example searches on your class topic in the library catalog. To conduct your own searches, go to the library homepage.
Recommended Books & eBooks
Artificial whiteness : politics and ideology in artificial intelligence by ISBN: 9780231551076Publication Date: 2020
Burning the Books by ISBN: 9780674249509Publication Date: 2020
Holocaust Memory in the Digital Age by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781503602892Publication Date: 2017-08-08
Storytelling in the Digital World by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9789027262202Publication Date: 2019-06-18
Underserved Communities and Digital Discourse by Call Number: eBookISBN: 9781498585163Publication Date: 2018-10-31
Your Librarian
Citation Information
- "MLA Formatting and Style Guide." The Purdue OWL, Purdue U Writing Lab, 2022This resource, updated to reflect the MLA Handbook (9th ed.), offers examples for the general format of MLA research papers, in-text citations, endnotes/footnotes, and the Works Cited page.
Course Description W2024
This section of FYRS deals with depictions and representations of real things and events ("reality") throughout human history. From the first known figurative cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic Era to smartphone cameras streaming events in real time worldwide, humanity has always been compelled to make a record of itself and the world it inhabits. However, we have also always struggled with the limitations of the methods at our disposal, and the recent proliferation of user-friendly, artificial "intelligence"-powered text and image generators has only added to the challenge. As a class we will explore the various ways in which human beings have attempted to document and preserve events and experiences throughout history. Using sources and perspectives from multiple periods, locations, and disciplines, we will examine the ways in which technological innovation, new forms of media, and societal changes have made it both easier and more difficult to record and recount the things that happen to us