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Librarian
- Leslie L. Morgan
- 208-O Hesburgh Library
- 631-8764
- morgan.59@nd.edu
- Ask a Librarian
- Library FAQ
- Research Strategy WorksheetInstruction Feedback Form
Start Your Research Toolkit
Reference Sources: A Place for Ideas
Look at encyclopedias and other reference sources to get background information and historical overviews on many different topics. These and other items in the Reference Collection are located on the main floor of Hesburgh Library near the reference desk.
Online reference sources include:
Browse online resources in the Reference Shelf, or search the Hesburgh Library Reference Collection to find print reference sources.
Use the ND Catalog to find books on your topic. Look for the 
icon in the catalog record to get more information about where to find the resource.
You can also consult the Call Number Locations page to determine where to find books in Hesburgh Library on a particular subject.
Databases covering many disciplines
These databases include both popular and scholarly sources on a wide variety of topics. They respond well to most First Year writing assignments.
 Academic Search Premier | Expanded Academic ASAP |
How to find scholarly articles
Need Scholarly Articles? Click Here For Help!
Choosing databases for more specific subjects
You will also get good results from the list of most popular databases at Notre Dame: Top Article Databases
Article QuickSearch
Article QuickSearch can be a useful option for beginning research on a topic that is unfamiliar. This interface enables you to:
| Simultaneously search multiple databases | Save time by entering your search terms just once |
| Get a limited number of results from each database | Good when you want to quickly try out several databases to see which ones respond best to your query |
Retrieve popular, news, and scholarly articles Watch a demo | Good when you would like to get a variety of articles for background information on your topic Good when your topic is multidisciplinary and you need information from a variey of perspectives |
What if I need an article database in a specific field?
Article Databases by Subject provides an alphabetically arranged list of links to subject pages. Each subject page contains links to and brief information about recommended databases in that particular field. Other databases are designed to locate articles within a narrow field of study.
- Review the list of subject headings.
- Choose the subject link that best fits your topic to get a subject-specific page of recommended databases.
- Read the database descriptions and select a database. If you need help choosing or searching a specific database, please Ask a Librarian.
- Some subject pages include a QuickSearch field. This option searches several of the recommended databases simultaneously. Please note that the number of results from each database is limited. Searching just one recommended database at a time will produce more in-depth results.
Just a reminder … Academic Code of Honor Handbook. Click here for clear examples of the difference between proper attribution and plagiarism.
-- an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies. Create your account and begin using this time-saving tool.
