COM104: Fundamentals of Public Speaking (Viens)
- Home
- Starting Your Research
- Background Information
- Reference Resources
- Books & eBooks
- Articles & Databases
- Web Resources
- Book-A-Librarian This link opens in a new window
- Citation Help
- Citation Tutorials
Use News Sites to Choose a Topic
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Google NewsGoogle collects up-to-the-minute news links from around the Web and categorizes them. You can look at articles about the World, U.S., Business, Sci-Tech, Entertainment, Sports, Health and more. Browse to find ideas.
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National Public RadioFrom NPR: "Great storytelling and rigorous reporting. These are the passions that fuel us. Our business is telling stories, small and large, that start conversations, increase understanding, enrich lives and enliven minds."
Using Goolge to Start Your Research
Before You Start Your Research
Google can be a great place to start your research and find out more about a topic, but you will also need to find authoritative sources on the web. Visit the Web Resources tab on this guide for related websites.
There are also 2 library databases that can help you explore different topics.
1. Credo Reference offers on-line encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs.
2. CQ Researcher is great for finding topics for your assignment.
USE THESE TOOLS BELOW TO HELP WITH YOUR ASSIGNMENT
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Tool for Planning Out Your Assignment This is a great tool to plan out how long it will take working backwards from the due date of the final paper. You will not be able to sign up for the reminders, but you can certainly write them into your calendar or planner.
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How to test out a topic idea before you even commit to it how to test out a topic idea before you even commit to it
Tutorial - Picking Your Topic & The Research Process
What is a Reference Resource?
Reference resources are usually encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, manuals and other books that you would refer to when wanting to know a definition of a word or concept, a general overview of a topic, specific information about a certain period of time or event in history.
The databases below are a great starting place for exploring a topic.
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CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window
A database of in-depth, authoritative reports on a full range of political and social-policy issues extending back to 1923. Each report is footnoted and includes an overview, background section, chronology, bibliography and debate-style pro-con feature, plus tools to study the evolution of the topic over time.
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Credo Reference This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text online versions of hundreds of top quality reference books in all major subjects from art to medicine, psychology to history, and technology to literature. Includes bilingual and biographical dictionaries.
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Opposing Viewpoints In Context This link opens in a new window
Full text database providing essays from books, magazine and news articles, statistics, primary documents, and Web sites present diverse views on many issues. Also a great source of ideas for research papers.
Using Wikipedia
Using Wikipedia can be a great place to start your research. You can receive an overview of your topic and get ideas of what you would like to discuss. While Wikipedia should not be considered a scholarly source, it is a great jumping off point- if you scroll to the bottom of a page, there is a reference list. Check out some of their references- there may be a perfect scholarly article for your research there!
If there is a journal article you are interested in, try searching for the title in one of our databases to check if we have access to it.
Check out this guide from York College about using Wikipedia in a smart way: https://libguides.york.cuny.edu/Wikipedia
- Last Updated: Sep 8, 2025 12:51 PM
- URL: https://libguides.bristolcc.edu/com104Viens
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