Subject Guides: CMJ 103: Public Speaking & Information Literacy Guide: Where to Look for Sources

Not sure where to begin? Try these topics!

CQ Researcher
In-depth coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy; reports are published weekly in print and online 44 times a year by CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc; each report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context
Includes pro/con viewpoints, reference articles, interactive maps, infographics, and more

Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues
Hot topics developed by a nonprofit organization for teaching and learning.
Scholars Strategy Network Research Briefs
These briefs highlight the core ideas, findings, and policy implications of peer-reviewed research, in plain language. They describe findings of original research and break down key points on a wide range of topics, from education, to energy, to health care, to immigration.

Find books on your topic

URSUS Catalog

Search the library catalog for materials on your topic (books, ebooks, videos, government documents). Many book records in URSUS include the table of contents, which can give you a sense of a book and help you decide if it would be useful for your research. Not sure where to locate an item in the library? There are maps on all floors of the library and at the reference desk. Note that URSUS is shared catalog across the UMaine system, and several other libraries, which allows you to quickly and easily request items from others libraries to be delivered to Orono. If you only want to see what's available to UMaine Orono (and not what's at the other libraries), you can change the default search from "Search entire URSUS catalog" to "UM - University of Maine catalog."

Find popular press coverage of your topic

Ethnic NewsWatch
Full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. *You can limit to news only.*
Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Over 2200 U.S. and international papers. Look for background information and various perspectives on current topics.
Maine News
Index to and full text coverage of five Maine newspapers: Bangor Daily News, 7/1/1993-present; Kennebec Journal (Augusta), 8/21/2005-present); Portland Press Herald, 9/30/1995-present; Sun Journal (Lewiston), 1/26/2006-present; Morning Sentinel (Waterville), 8/21/2005-present. Selected business coverage of the Maine Times (2/4/94-4/25/02) is also included. There is selective coverage of some earlier years, and some gaps in the coverage listed above, for these titles. Updated daily.
Nexis Uni
Features full text news, business, and legal sources, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790

U.S. Newsstream
Current U.S. news content, as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s. Features top newspapers, wires, broadcast transcripts, blogs, and news sites in full-text format, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune.

Find research or studies on your topic

Find Peer Reviewed Articles

Academic Search Complete
Interdisciplinary search for articles on any topic. Limit to peer reviewed articles to get the scholarly content only.
Communication and Mass Media Complete
Articles in communication, mass media studies, linguistics, rhetoric, language, logic, and other closely related fields.
Environment Complete
Articles in agriculture, ecosystem ecology, energy, natural resources, marine & freshwater science, geography, environmental technology, environmental law, public policy, social impacts, urban planning, and more.
ERIC-Education (ProQuest)
Topics in education (K-12 and higher education)

Google Scholar
Google Scholar includes a wide range of scholarly articles, books, legal literature, "grey literature" like conference proceedings, and much more.

CAVEAT: Not everything in Google Scholar is scholarly. The search includes popular books, news articles, and other materials that Google picks up from the various sites it accesses. Their search algorithm is a trade secret, so it is often unclear what you will find here. Not sure if you've found a peer reviewed article? See the Evaluating Sources tab for guidance.

Want to set up Library Links so that you can access Fogler's subscriptions when searching in Google Scholar? Here's a quick guide.

Music Index This link opens in a new window
An index to all kinds of publications about all kinds of music.

OneSearch
Interdisciplinary search engine that looks for your search terms in our library catalog, and in many of our ejournals and databases (though not all). You can limit to peer reviewed articles.

PsycINFO
Resources in psychology and related disciplines
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Indexes more than 1,500 periodicals in the fields of political science, international relations, law, public administration, and public policy.

Looking for the full list of Fogler's databases? Find them here.

Need help getting started with database searching? Here's a brief tutorial.

If you find a journal article that is not available online, use URSUS to determine whether or not the print journal is housed in the library. If we don't have the journal article you need in print or electronically, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan.

Find Public Opinion Research

Roper iPoll
U.S. public opinion questions and answers. Search questions by keywords, topics, and dates regarding important issues facing the country.

Pew Research Center
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.

Find images for your presentations

Flickr Commons
Images from public photography archives. Once you run a search, click on the "Any license" dropdown menu to choose Creative Commons licenses, which allow you to access images that are available to reuse in various capacities.
Google Image Search
Can limit results to images that are available for reuse.
Pixabay
Over one million high quality photos, illustrations, and vector graphics. No attribution required.
Wikimedia Commons
Free-to-use media files to which anyone can contribute.

Find infographics for your presentations

Statista
User friendly online statistics portal where you can search for data and data visualizations on a wide range of current topics, including media, business, finance, politics, and more. Data are pulled from both publicly accessible and proprietary sources.

CMJ 103: Public Speaking & Information Literacy Guide