General Audience Sources
How does your field use writing?
Books can help you identify different genres of writing in your discipline or profession.
-
Advanced Search: UC Davis Library CatalogSearch UC Library Search for books, journals (not articles) and other materials available online or in the library.
Use the tools listed below to find recent, relevant and reputable news articles, magazine articles and reports for your bibliographies.
- Access World News (Formerly America's Newspapers) This link opens in a new windowUse this database to search for news articles from thousands of sources from around the U.S. and the world.
- CQ Press Library/Political Reference Suite This link opens in a new windowCongressional Quarterly (CQ) Electronic Library includes many resources for the study of current and historical congressional and American government issues. Use CQ Researcher to search for high-quality journalistic reports on a range of political and social-policy issues. Each report is footnoted and includes an overview, background section, chronology, bibliography and debate-style pro-con feature.
- MasterFILE Premier This link opens in a new windowIncludes information from over 2,600 popular magazines and periodicals covering topics in the general sciences, technology and health, consumer interests, cultural diversity, education, and current and historical events, as well as an Image Collection of nearly 400,000 photos, maps and flags.
- NYTimes.com This link opens in a new windowUnlimited access to NYTimes.com and NYT Mobile apps, including Spanish and Chinese editions. Note: First time users must create a NYT account to gain access; accounts will need to be reactivated on an annual basis.
To activate access:
Step 1: Visit AccessNYT.com while connected to the UC Davis network (including VPN)
Step 2: Search for and click the listing for “University of California, Davis – Davis, CA.”
Step 3: Click “Create Account” and complete the registration fields - U.S. Major Dailies This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
Current full-text of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, New York Times (including the New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review), Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. - Economist (Current) This link opens in a new windowTo activate access:
1. Visit economist.com and create an account using your UC Davis email address (youremail@ucdavis.edu).
2. You will receive an email prompting you to verify your account. Follow the steps in that email to complete the process
Evaluate Your Sources
Consider these criteria to determine if a source is reputable:
Author: Who produced the information? What can you find about the author's credentials?
Accuracy: Does the author cite references to support their thesis? If so, are the references also from scholarly, credible sources? How does this information compare to other sources you have found?
Timeframe: When was the source published? Is the information still relevant?
For more tips and guidelines:
- Evaluating Resources CC-BY-NC: UC Berkeley Library
- SIFT: The Four Moves CC-BY: Mike Caulfield, Washington State University Vancouver
- Evaluating Digital Sources Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)