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Finding Sources

By now, you've all experienced the frustration of searching the internet for sources. It's a large place, and using Google alone (with keywords only) is not sufficient for finding everything you'll need for your paper.

As you learned at ULM, the best way to find articles on topics pertaining to literature is to go through a database that collects articles in that field. Usually, these databases are subscription based, and this is why access is often restricted. However, one free service that I've found useful is Find Articles. Like JSTOR or other databases, Find Articles collects articles from (mostly popular) periodicals. You can search their database using keywords and print out full text articles. Note that when you use an article found through Find Articles, or any other database, you must include that information in the citation for the source.

We will have citation workshops in class on Wednesday and Thursday.

Finally, one last resource I just learned about is a new service by Google -- Google Scholar. Typing keywords into this search engine brings up sites related to academic research, which means that the sources are credible but hard to access. Once you have gotten your results for a search, pick an entry and click "web search." Sometimes you can get articles that are usually available only by subscription, but which have been re-posted. You might want to try it for yourself.

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