FCC Research Guides: ENGL 101: Education Theme: Discovering Background Sources

Best FCC Databases for Background Information on Education Topics

Gale Virtual Reference Library ("Gale Ebooks") This link opens in a new window
The Library's Wikipedia! Search a number of specialized encyclopedias in biography, law, business, substance abuse, multiculturalism, education and more.
CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Overviews of current controversies in public policy.

FCC Library Databases

Chronicle of Higher Education This link opens in a new window
Presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals. On-campus access requires no login. Off-campus access requires the creation of a Chronicle account using your FCC email.

Issues and Controversies This link opens in a new window
Overviews of controversial issues with arguments and counter arguments for each issue. Recommend browsing issues rather than searching.
National Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Full-text articles from The Christian Science Monitor, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun newspapers starting in 1970 to the present.
New York Times Historical Edition This link opens in a new window
Full text of articles from The New York Times from 1851 through 2003.
Teacher Reference Center (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Popular teacher and educator trade journals. TO LIMIT TO SCHOLARLY ARTICLES CHECK THE "Peer Reviewed" BOX.

Websites

Pro-Con.org
Award winning nonpartisan site on controversial issues.
Public Agenda
A nonprofit, nonpartisan research and citizen education resource, founded by social scientist, Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Includes statistics, results of polls, policy proposals, and much more.
Wikipedia
If you want to use Wikipedia, make sure to watch the "Using Wikipedia for Academic Research" video.

Background Information Tutorial
Background research is what you do to get a handle on the next steps of your academic research process. This two part tutorial will teach you all about the role of background research, why doing it is important, and how to do it using one of our databases as an example.
Using Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) for Background Research
The GVRL tutorial applies what was learned in the previous tutorial by guiding you through the use of one of our most popular background information databases.
Using Wikipedia for Academic Research
This tutorial explains how to use Wikipedia as an exploratory tool and where it can appropriately fit in the research process.
Boolean Searching
Use boolean operators to maximize your searches.