General Research

A comprehensive, multidisciplinary reference resource, ABC-CLIO contains over 140,000 primary and secondary source materials covering a variety of subject areas, including ancient to modern world history and geography, current events, pop culture and much more. Users can easily search across any one or all of these areas, uncovering a variety of sources as they do so, from brief “overview articles,” to in-depth essays, multimedia materials, and timelines.

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A powerful, all-in-one reference resource (atlas, news, biographies, statistics, homework help, etc.), Britannica Library offers all of its traditional coverage and a great deal more, including videos and multimedia collections and links to recommended websites, and even audience-specific portals that help connect users with articles and tools appropriate for their reading or general grade level.

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These are the databases accessed through FirstSearch:

General Databases
WorldCat – Books and other materials in libraries worldwide.
Article1st – Index of articles from nearly 12,500 journals.

Specialized Databases
Clase Periodica – Index of Latin American journals in science and humanities.
Ebooks – Catalog of online electronic books available through libraries worldwide.
ECO – A collection of scholarly journals.
ERIC – Journal articles and reports in education.
GPO – U.S. Government publications.
MEDLINE – Abstracted articles from medical journals.
OAIster – A union catalog of more than 19 million digital resources.
PapersFirst – An index of papers presented at conferences.
Proceedings – An index of conference publications.
World Almanac – The World Almanacs.

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The Internet Archive Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the Internet, one of the nonprofit Internet Archives’ resources. With this search tool, you can explore more than 519 billion web pages saved from the past.

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MasterFILE Premier contains full text for general reference magazines and publications covering a wide range of subject areas including business, health, education, general science and multicultural issues. It also includes an extensive image collection of more than 2 million photos, maps and flags.

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Need help with a research project or homework assignment? The library has magazine articles, books, primary source documents, images, videos and more! Use Explora to find reliable information on thousands of topics covering a wide range of subjects, including: • Arts and Literature • Biography • Business and Government • Current Issues • Geography • Health • History • Science and Math

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A general reference database containing thousands of full-text articles exploring the different sides of controversial social, scientific, health, historic, business, economic, political and global issues.  This resource also includes unique tools designed for students and teachers, like the MyAnalysis and iThink interactive research guide or Common Core Writing Guide. See the Teacher Page for more information.

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What’s the story behind your name? What games did you play as a child? What’s your grandmother’s secret recipe, the neighborhood’s ghost story, or the joke that gets told at every family gathering?

Folklore permeates the everyday lives of people around the world. We inherit a rich tradition of holidays, festivals, language, stories and fairy tales, proverbs, food ways, and folk remedies that define our society and our place within it. World Folklore and Folklife provides an exciting and accessible way to explore this vast and growing treasury of knowledge.

Subjects include:
• Celebrations and Rituals
• Food and Drink
• Holidays and Festivals
• Music and Dance
• Religion and Belief
• Tales, Myths, and Urban Legends
• Traditional Arts and Crafts

All content is fully-indexed and cross-searchable, and the user-friendly interface makes searching or browsing quick and effective.
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