We have created several Help Guides to help you navigate using library and information resources and tools. These guides are designed to walk you through finding what you need while offering tips, tricks, and other useful information.
The library's many databases help you find individual articles, media, e-books, and other items of information that are available from scholarly and reliable resources.
All of the databases can be used off-campus by logging in with your UDC credentials.
You can see the full list of the library's databases here:
Newspapers and newswires report information via research, interviews, surveys, speeches, etc. They can provide the latest information on what people are thinking about your topic. Reading different newspapers may provide different perspectives for you to consider in your research.
Newspapers and newswires are available in the following databases:
Reference resources are authoritative works that help you find summaries of information about people, things, and events. Reference resources often contain definitions, facts, timelines, and other helpful information. They are not comprehensive but provide great introductions to a topic. They're a great place to start your initial research and will help you find out more about your topic or idea. Many reference resources also link or refer you to additional information.
E-books are books, too! They just happen to be available to you online. Just like any of the library's databases, these can be used from anywhere with an Internet connection. When prompted, all you have to do is log-in using your UDC credentials.
Many e-books may be downloaded (chapter-by-chapter or the entire book) and some can even be printed. If you check out an e-book, it will "disappear" from your library account on its due date.
E-books are available in many of the library's databases. You can try a few of them in the list below:
Multimedia resources or databases are where you can find streaming video or audio content. These databases contain news clips, training videos, podcasts, audio stories, and other media content.
Some academic disciplines and research topics require you to look for information available on the web. While there is a lot of good information available through Google and other websites, you should always evaluate the information you find to make sure that it accurate, relevant, and appropriate for your needs.
You can learn more about why and how you should evaluate information in our Evaluating Sources Help Guide.
Many people begin researching a new topic using the Wikipedia. Because anyone can edit a Wikipedia page it makes it very hard to know if the information contained in them is accurate. Because of this, Wikipedia is NEVER an appropriate source to cite in your assignments.
Instead, try beginning your search with this source, which performs similarly but contains information from reliable sources. It also links you to other library resources that you can use.
