7th Grade Civics Project
Login Information for resources that require passwords.
News & Local Research Resources
This database is full of magazine articles from many popular titles. You can search it directly with your key words, or come back to it if you find an article online that is behind a paywall.
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.
This information sheet will take you to a Drive of documents put together by both Acton & Boxborough to help with your research.
This is where you can find NYT articles that are not behind the paywall.
Added benefit - use the pre-formatted citations provided at the bottom of the article!
This news source was created by the local League of Women Voters and launched its first articles in 2023.
Action Unlimited
This free news booklet is delivered to every househould. On the website you can flip through the latest versions of the publication.
Boxborough News is committed to providing to independent, neutral reporting of town news and information.
There are articles about both Acton & Boxborough. There is a limit to the number of free articles. If you exceed it, come talk to Ms. Wong.
General Research
This reliable, online encyclopedia is a great start - think Wikipedia by professionals. Britannica School lets you research any topic and find information, images, and suggestions for further research.
Modify the reading level, print the documents for easy notetaking, and citations!
This resource is great for first level research on a wide variety of topics. It contains topic pages like Britannica School, but also includes articles from magazines & newspapers, videos, and primary sources.
Is your topic controversial? This database gathers different viewpoints on a topic so you can examine all sides of it.
Remember - these articles will have a bias and it's up to you to determine their credibility.
Health & Wellness
This database contains magazine, newspaper & journal articles on issues of health.
Remember - use the limiters to filter out the journal articles (you'll use them later in life ;-).
These are mostly high school and college level resources. Try items within Reference, Magazines and News options, but know they will be full detail. Or, grab some good images!
Are you looking for information on a person who is important to your topic? This resource contains information about thousands of significant people.
Trying to find an article? You can click to Access all the Databases A-Z and search. No luck? Please ask Ms. Wong - we can get most articles for you.
Sources for Images
Digital Public Library of America Incredible resource for all types of digital media from libraries and museums around the country.
Photos for Class - Search Flickr, Pixabay and other resources all at once.
Wikimedia Commons - This is the image/media storage file for all the images you see on Wikipedia.
Database Search Tips
Use keyword searching (not complete sentences)
Try synonyms if you don't get any results
If you find new keywords in your first article, use them to search again!
Explore the "More Like This" options
Database Advantages
All the articles are "free" (no paywalls)
Sources are real media sites (you still need to look for bias)
Citations are included
Audio, translations & text options available