ENG103: Writing in and about the Sciences

Use the Reference Databases on this page to browse for ideas to help you narrow your topic.

• The "Start Your Research Here" box does a broad, shallow search across 100 of the library's 120 databases.
  • Sign in with your college username/password to save results, searches and request to borrow books.
  • Limit your search to type of material, such as Books or Ebooks.
  • Chapters from ebooks can be downloaded from on or off-campus. 
• Well-researched, credible books will not yet exist about very new topics (such as COVID).
  • However, you can find books about similar historical events using a broader idea, such as pandemics.

These encyclopedia-type databases offer chapters and articles with reliable overviews, background, and history of your topic.

• Some of these sources may be found with the search box above, but searching the databases below directly finds much more.
• Hover over links below for descriptions. 

1. Use the "Start Your Research Here" box and limit to Articles. 
2. To find articles, do a more specific Advanced Search: COVID-19 AND origin* 
   • ​The wildcard or truncation symbol, the asterisk (*), finds all word endings: origin, origins, originate, originates, etc.
   • Limit by date and to "Peer Reviewed Journals" (left column).
3. You can also do a more in-depth search using one article databases below, such as ProQuest Central. 

Some videos can be found with the search box above, but find more results by searching these documentary video databases directly.  

Podcasts and assorted websites: 

Alternate search engines offer more privacy for searching the free web. 

This page describes how to do a Google Advanced Search: