Basic/Background Material	Historical Facts	Magazine Articles	Newspaper Articles
Current Events Internet Resources	Individual Sites	Search Engines, Subject Directories; Personalizing	Local News (Terre Haute, Indiana, etc.)

This is a selected list of library resources intended to give you easy access to some of the information you may be looking for when preparing your speeches.

• If you don't need background or retrospective information, then you probably won't start with the Online Catalog, but you'll need it eventually, especially to look up Journal Titles!]
• General coverage: ProQuest or Ebscohost
• In-depth coverage: ProQuest, Ebscohost and other subject-specific indexes (Databases by Subject or Alphabeticalmenu options)
• Today's News (and yesterday's...): LexisNexis Academic databases
• Background? Then the Online Catalog!! For books (many in Reference)

Basic/Background Material on Your Topic

• Use the Online Catalog (handout)
• Look for books and government documents with recent dates of publication; government documents can be especially useful for their statistical and primary research value.

• General encyclopedias are located near the Reference Desk, 1st floor (online: Encyclopedia Britannica)
• Subject-specific encyclopedias for art, science, music, etc., are in the general Reference collection

• examine issues of Editorial Research Reports/ CQ Researcher (Ref. H 35 .E35 for 1971 to present volumes; available from 1959 - 70 in the general collection, same call number); each issue covers approx. 10-15 pages of information on many important, "hot" topics; can be very helpful for persuasive speeches.

• examine Facts on File (online , and Ref. D 410 .F3 for most recent 5 years; collection from 1941 on)
• almanacs
• the New York Times Index Reference Area; access NYTI citations via ProQuest and many newspaper full-text articles via LexisNexis Academic's News category. Get more idea via the Newspaper Databases & Internet Sites
• What They Said, the yearbook of spoken opinion (D 410 .W46; five latest volumes in Reference; have from 1969 forward with some years missing).

Browse through current issues of general news magazines, shelved by title in Current Periodicals (Lower Level).
Many of magazines also have their own web sites; and may have all articles from an issue, sample articles, or tables of contents. To locate citations to articles (and online full-text:

• Start with ProQuest or the Reader's Guide (Index Alcove)
• Try the Databases --> Subject resources for additional subject-specific journal indexes and other electronic reference sources.

• ProQuest's PA Research Newspapers (indexes New York Times, etc.)
• Use individual newspaper indexes and online sites (check Databases --> Subject --> Newspapers)
• LexisNexis Academic's Top News & General News (hundreds of newspapers and wire services)
• Terre Haute Tribune Archive; there are now 2 different searchable sites on the Tribune Star for articles from the early 90s.
• Indianapolis Star [online via the Newspaper Source ]
• New York Times, Chicago Tribune, etc via printed indexes [sad, but true, you still might need to check the Reference Index Alcove, especially for historical coverage]

Individual Sites
UN: http://www.un.org/	Voice of America Daily [7 days a week]: http://www.voa.gov
NPR: http://www.npr.org	ABC: http://abc.go.com/
PBS:  http://www.pbs.org	White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov
Library of Congress (will also lead to current legislative info): http://lcweb.loc.gov	CBS: http://www.cbs.com
NBC: http://www.nbc.com	CNN: http://www.cnn.com/
Television News Archives: http://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/

Search Engines & Subject Directories & Personalizing your search for News

If you have a favorite topic, or a semester-long project having a current focus, you'll probably want to set up a personalized site. Most major search engines and directories let you tailor their topic lists; some offer additional features/services. Some only keep the most current stuff; others allow you to reach archival materials (time periods vary); so, usually if you find a story you think you'll need, email it to yourself, bookmark it, but also, go ahead and print it off just in case it's gone tomorrow (or next week!). The sites listed below are among the oldest/most established websites
 

	Excite News: http://news.excite.com/	Yahoo's My Front Page: http://my.yahoo.com/
	Lycos News: http://news.lycos.com/
Infoseek's Main Page has several news links: http://infoseek.go.com/, as well as a link to http://abcnews.go.com/ (with more links from there!)	Lycos: http://www.lycos.com/news/ personalize at http://my.lycos.com/
	For other possibilities, go to http://www.clearinghouse.net/index.html, choose Communication; then News Media

Local News (Terre Haute, Indiana, etc.).

Look under http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/By_Region/U_S__States/ and http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/By_Region/U_S__States/Indiana/

The Terre Haute Tribune Star is online at www.tribstar.com , and has a full-text archive (1992 to present) as well at library.tribstar.com. You can find the Indianapolis Star via Newspaper Source.

Local Media Websites: listbook.html#ind; scroll down to Media (Print, Radio, Television).

Always ask for help at the Reference Desk or contact us for assistance in using these or any other library resources.
 

Online Guides

Library Instruction Marshamiller@indstate.edu

Sites Checked October 11, 2002

Cunningham Memorial Library, 650 Sycamore St., Terre Haute, IN 47809   812.237.2580   Updated January  26th, 2004     Maintained by: Library Instruction   Copyright  © 2004 Indiana State University   Comments and Feedback