Background information ... what do you know about your topic?
When you start a research project, you need to get a sense of what’s already been said (or written) about your topic. We call this kind of overview background information.
Examples of background information that can help kickstart your research include basic facts, key words, history, leading issues, descriptions, and concepts.
Think of background information as a research building block or foundation. Background information can help you locate suitable keywords for searching databases and identify more specific areas of your topic that you may want to research further.
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Credo Reference - All Subjects Search This link opens in a new windowContains dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific titles.
Use these information sources to become familiar with a range of issues
Multi-disciplinary databases (good for articles)
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Academic Search Ultimate - EBSCO This link opens in a new window
Provides a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with around 10,000 full-text periodicals - of which more than 9,000 are peer-reviewed journals.
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Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
Database of contemporary social issues with content structured to promote critical-thinking skills. It contains reference book titles, pro and con viewpoint articles, and a variety of periodicals, podcasts, reviewed Web links, images, statistical tables, charts, and graphs.
Newspapers
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Chicago Tribune - ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Provides searchable full-text daily Chicago Tribune articles from 1849 to the present.
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Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Provides access to full-text news, business, and legal publications using a variety of flexible search options. Access over 15,000 news, business, and legal sources.
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New York Times All-AccessUnlimited digital access to all offerings from The New York Times, on any device.
Statistical information
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Statista This link opens in a new windowBusiness, marketing, demographic, and economic statistics along with content in the form of infographics, company/industry dossiers, market analytics, and forecasts.
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Find StatisticsOakton Library Research Guide.
Good to know . . .
Although library databases can look quite different from one another, most have these types of features:
- Search filters that allow you to limit/narrow your search (date, format, subject matter, etc.)
- Citation generators
- Article abstracts (summaries) and/or full-text of articles
- Options for printing, saving, and sharing articles
OWL
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Oakton Library Catalog This link opens in a new windowO.W.L. (Oakton's Whole Library) is Oakton's library catalog and discovery service. Use it to search for books, articles, journals, and multimedia.