Research Resources 101

Newspapers are usually focused on current events, published periodically, and can represent a specific geographic area or industry. Traditionally, they have been printed on cheap paper in black and white, but today many newspapers are published online. Like journals, they contain short articles, but unlike journals, these articles focus on providing quick, summary news information rather than deep discussion or presentation of research. Hekman Library collects many newspapers in print and provides access to more online, including both current and historical issues. You can also get access to newspaper articles outside the library collection by using MeL/ILL. 

• Pros: Short articles to read ; Great source for most current news ; Good primary source for historical news ; Some available online 
• Cons: More summarizing than detailing ; Not focused on in-depth research ; Various levels of trustworthy reporting ; Not all available online
• Scholarly or Non? While academic journals usually have a peer-review process to ensure quality of information, newspapers do not have peer-review, and so they are not usually considered scholarly. Several long-standing newspapers, such as the New York Times, have earned their reputations as objective sources by staying committed to carefully researched, high-quality journalism and so may be a good source for information, but with more and more news available online from so many sources, it is more important than ever to carefully evaluate even what looks to be a trustworthy newspaper to distinguish good reporting from fakes. Don't take for granted a news site that has a good design and official tone to their writing. Instead, keep an eye out for publication information or the About section of a site - who is in charge of this newspaper, are they affiliated with any particular group or agenda, and do they have any potential biases that could skew their news? For more help on this topic of media literacy and fake news, check out the video tutorial below.

Now, in addition to accessing historical New York Times through Proquest databases, you can also subscribe to the current New York Times through the library for free! Follow these instructions for your personal, online subscription (please note, this access does not include puzzles or recipes sections):

1. Go to https://library.calvin.edu/content/resource_abstract/9764 and click on the link for New York Times Academic Pass. If you’re off campus, you’ll be prompted to authenticate with your Calvin login and passphrase.

2. On the resulting NYT site, search for Calvin University and Seminary in the “Find school” search box.

3. Follow the link for on-campus users. Or, read the instructions for off-campus users and click on the blue “Go” button. You may need to authenticate again, or you may be forwarded to the page for creating an account.

4. Click the “Create account” button and fill out the form. Be sure to use your Calvin email address (if you already have a New York Times subscription account set up with your Calvin email, you will need to first cancel that in order to set up this free account). You’ll be asked to set up a unique password, which you’ll use any time you want to access nytimes.com.

Email Katherine Swart at kswart20@calvin.edu if you have any questions or encounter any issues.

Local news for Calvin and the Grand Rapids area can be found a number of ways, but here are a few specific sources: The Calvin Chimes (student newspaper) and the Grand Rapids Press (city/area newspaper). Most recent news and issues may be found at the websites of these newspapers, but if you're looking for historical issues, you may have to try a few places - some sources are digitized online, some may only be indexed online, and some are only available in print. In some cases, you might try using an online index to look up an article, then come to the library to view the actual article in print or in microfilm (for more on using microfilm, continue in this guide).