Contact your Research Librarian
Getting Started with Research for SPAN300!
- Need a review of Hekman Library basics? Check out this "Get Connected" guide or browse our How-to playlist on Youtube.
- If you're off-campus, remember to start at the library homepage when connecting to databases and ebooks, so you'll be recognized as a Calvin user (when you're prompted to login, enter your Calvin username and passphrase).
- Struggling with citations? For more help, see the library's longer Citation 101 guide or try using Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab)
More Research How-tos
Recommended Research Databases
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Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
Great database to start your research. It covers a wide range of topics with academic/scholarly resources. -
Communication & Mass Media Complete (EBSCO)Use for research in communication and rhetoric, also covers public relations, advertising, linguistics, language acquisition.
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Dictionary of Literary Biography
Provides information on authors worldwide.
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Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)Covers the wide range of world history (excluding the United States and Canada) from the 15th century to the present.
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MLA International Bibliography (EBSCO)The definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric, and film studies.
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JSTOR
JSTOR offers scholarly, peer-reviewed journals across numerous disciplines. -
Project Muse
600+ scholarly journals in humanities and social sciences. Lots of research on Hispanic topics.
Special Resource: Country Information
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BBC Country ProfilesFrom the BBC, "full profiles... to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions." Also, some audio and video from the BBC archives
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CIA World FactbookProvides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
Tips for Searching
Try using Subject Headings to focus your research question.
Subject headings can be a more accurate and comprehensive way of searching for a topic than keyword searching. Look for Subjects in the book's Details.