Research Tools for Speeches

Key Print and Electronic Resources

CQ Researcher -- a weekly publication that covers hot policy issues and gives you references to key resources. This is a terrific resource to use when you are beginning to research a hot topic or key issue.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center -- provides research and background information on a wide range of social issues. This database contains informative essays from the Opposing Viewpoints books, supplemented by statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

Search The CAT -- for books and other materials on your topic.

Browse the Contemporary World Issues , Current Controversies, At Issue and Opposing Viewpoints series in The CAT.
These books provide background information, biographies, statistics, timelines, and other important information on a variety of current social topics.

Finding Magazine and Journal Articles

Proquest -- provides access to articles from over 5,000 publications, including many periodicals, newspapers, and business sources. Many articles are available in full text.

LexisNexis Academic -- a full-text database containing newspaper and magazine articles, transcripts, and case law materials.

Find Articles and Databases By Subject -- The Libraries subscribe to hundreds of databases covering a wide variety of subject areas. Browse this list to find additional databases that are relevant to your speech topic.

Finding National and International Newspaper Articles

ProQuest Direct provides the full-text of the New York Times and many other national newspapers.

New York Times Historical provides the full-text of The New York Times, starting with 1851 [latest 3 years not available].

LexisNexis Academic provides full-text access to a wide variety of national and international newspapers.

News & Microforms Library, located in Ground Floor Pattee Library West, houses filmed copies of many international and national newspapers, including every issue of the New York Times, 1851-Present. You must visit the News & Microforms Library to view, print, or scan articles.

AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive contains over 50 million photographs from the Associated Press. The Multimedia Archives feature Associated Press graphics, text and audio.

University Wire (via Lexis Nexis Academic) provides articles from college and university student newspapers.  Slect 'news' as your type of search.  Pull down the 'Select sources' menu and select 'University Wire.'

Finding Local Newspaper Articles

Daily Collegian Online– Search back issues of the Daily Collegian, full-text, 1989-Present.

Historical Digital Collegian Archive -- full-text articles from the Penn State Collegian and its predecessors, 1887 - 1987.

Centre Daily Times -- via America's Newspapers (NewsBank), search the full-text of the Centre Daily Times, 1995-Present.

Centre Daily Times Index - provides access to article citations from the CDT, 1981-Present. You must visit the News &Microforms Library , Ground Floor Pattee Library West to view the full text of articles.

America's Newspapers (NewsBank) also provides full-text access to a variety of other Pennsylvania newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Finding Editorials

Brookings Institution Editorial Archives
Editorials written by scholars at the Brookings Institution, an independent organization devoted to analyzing public policy.

The New York Times Editorials & Opinion page
Browse current opinion pieces (published less than one week ago) on this page. Older New York Times editorials can be found via ProQuest or New York Times Historical.

Opinions / Editorials from U.S. Newspapers
A huge list of U.S. newspapers, by state, with links to editorial and opinion pages. A comprehensive list of links to individual editorial columnists is also provided.

Finding Biographies

American National Biography Online offers portraits of more than 17,000 prominent men and women.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Search by author or title to find biographical information on a specific author.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Use this index to search for biographical sources on influential people from the past and present.

Biography.com
Maintained by the Arts and Entertainment Television Network, this site features a searchable index of over 25,000 biographies.

Yahoo! Society and Culture--People
Browse Yahoo!'s listings to find Web sites about society's influential people.

Finding Statistics on Your Topic

Social Sciences Library Statistics and Data page.
A comprehensive gateway to statistical information from a wide variety of sources.

LexisNexis Statistical
Indexes and provides access to statistics and data contained in Federal government publications.

Additional Web Resources

Best Information on the Net—Hot Paper Topics
Maintained by Saint Ambrose University, this is an index to a variety of controversial topics that are of current interest. Each topic is accompanied by a list of related Web sites

Documents in the News
This site provides access to a wide variety of Federal government documents relevant to current social issues.

FirstGov : Information by Topic
A gigantic clearinghouse of goverment information, organized by topic.

Organizations Relevant to Key Issues
Trying to find the official organization associated with your topic? This page will help you find the official group or organization that you are looking for.

Public Agenda Online
This site analyzes public opinion and details policies related to many hot issues impacting society today.

SpeakOut.com
SpeakOut.com provides an annotated directory of resources that detail the intricacies of many current political and social issues. Take a look at the Issues Library.

Google's Directory of Societal Issues
A directory of web sites focused on a wide variety of controversial issues and hot topics.

Yahoo!'s List of Issues and Causes
Browse Yahoo!'s comprehensive list of hot topics and social issues.