AP Research
Explore, design, plan, and conduct a year-long, research-based investigation to address a research question 

How to search academic databases

Avoid Natural Language

• Stick to keywords and phrases - don't write out questions in full.

Use Quotation Marks Around Phrases 

• This ensures your search results will include the phrase, not the individual words found separately in the document.

Use the Advanced Search

• It will be located in different places depending on the database, but it will help refine and improve your search.

Use Limiters Provided by the Database to Narrow/Focus Your Results

• Limiters are usually found on the left or right-hand side of your search results.

• Limit by source type, date of publication, reading level, subject, publication, and more

Use Boolean Operators

AND: Narrows your search by requiring all connected terms to appear in the results.

• Example: cats AND dogs finds records that mention both animals.

OR: Broadens your search by finding results that contain at least one of the connected synonyms or terms.

• Example: cats OR kitties OR felines finds records with any of those words.

NOT: Narrows your search by excluding specific words or unwanted terms.

• Example: cats NOT dogs finds records about cats but removes any that also mention dogs.

AllSides: Balanced News

The Atlantic--Full-text articles can be accessed through .mycherrycreek while on campus

Colorado Politics

Denver Post (and other CO newspapers)
Please contact the library for an access code.

JSTOR Daily

Journalist's Resource: Research on Today's News Topics

The New York Times

       Directions for creating a NYT 

       The New York Times-Academic Pass: use this link to create a complimentary account

RealClearPolitics

The Wall Street Journal - Directions for accessing the WSJ subscription can be found on our Remote Logins and Passwords link

World News Digest

PubMed:  PubMed is a free resource supporting the search and retrieval of biomedical and life sciences literature with the aim of improving health–both globally and personally.

The PubMed database contains more than 30 million citations and abstracts of biomedical literature. It does not include full-text journal articles; however, links to the full text are often present when available from other sources, such as the publisher's website or PubMed Central (PMC). (Description from PubMed site)

PLOS ONE: Full-text open access articles covering multiple subject areas

MDPI: Includes approximately 420 peer-reviewed journals and nine conference journals

Frontiers: 221 OA Journals

Open Access Sage Journals: OA journals published by Sage.  All are peer reviewed.

Pew Research Center: Nonpartisan organization that conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. 

Library of Congress: The largest library in the world with more than 162 million items, including books, sound recordings, motion pictures, photographs, maps, and manuscripts. The LOC serves as the research arm of Congress.

National Archives: The nation's record keeper- Contains documents and materials created in the course of business conducted by the United States federal government

Science.gov: Authoritative federal science information

Smithsonian: Smithsonian Libraries offers educational resources and digital collections from 21 specialized research libraries. Features RESEARCH TOOLS, a portal that allows you to search their collection of journals and books.

Digital Public Library of America: Features photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, and more, from America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions.

GREAT FOR: Primary Sources from History