Background Information & Statistics
Resources for Finding Background Information
Links to relevant databases useful for finding full text background information in academic level electronic sources.
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Provides searchable full-text e-book versions of over 3,500 reference works, including multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. in a wide range of subject areas.
- Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new window
Covers a wide range of controversial topics and results may include sources such as magazine, newspaper or journal articles, government documents, political position papers, public policy statements, legal and legislative materials, pamphlets, statistical data, biographies, court cases, and links websites.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
Full-text detailed reports on controversial social, economic, political, educational, health, environmental, technology, and current topics. Each report includes an abstract, overview, background summary, current situation, outlook, special focus, chronology, pro/con, and bibliography.
- Oxford Reference This link opens in a new windowCollection of 260+ Reference books; including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and books of quotations, includes resources in a wide range of fields.
Journal Articles
Google Scholar Via the Pollak Library
Use Google Scholar to search through thousands of journals, many of which the Pollak Library owns. You can also find patents and legal documents with Google Scholar.
By connecting Google Scholar to the Pollak Library, you have access to a special "Pollak Library Find It!" link in order to determine if a particular item of interest is available full-text online, in print, or through interlibrary loan.
If you need assistance with connecting to Google Scholar from off campus, the information on this page offers one way to configure Google Scholar so that it connects with resources available through the Pollak Library.
- Google Scholar This link opens in a new windowSearch for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all subjects. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
Internet Resources
Internet Searching
Please read the information below to learn how you can construct a search of government Web sites in Google for information on your research topic.
To search education Web sites, please type: site:.edu [skipping a space and then entering your search term(s)]
For a search of organization Web sites, please type: site:.org [skipping a space and then entering your search term(s)]
Additional Tip
As always, please take the time to evaluate your sources.
Sample Keywords for Statistics
As you look for statistical information, some keywords you may want to include in different searches are:
statistic, data, prevalence, incidence, survey, rate, demographic, population, characteristic, trend, sample