Locating Information
[Guide used in research study, Spring 2013. Link to current WRD 111 Guide for UK Students.]
Next, find information about your topic.
The links below connect you to articles and newspapers, books, websites, videos, and more
Also look for additional links that pertain directly to your class section.
Depending on what you find, you might need to revise your topic or search strategy.
If you are having trouble finding information on your topic, always feel free to Ask Us!
Find Articles
Selected databases that contain a variety of journal and/or newspaper articles:
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
The wide variety of subject coverage makes this a good place to begin your research on virtually any topic, covering all disciplines in both popular magazines and scholarly journals. - Access World News
- This link opens in a new window
Contains articles from local and regional newspapers, including several Kentucky newspapers. - CQ Researcher
- This link opens in a new window
Reporting and analysis of political and social issues, including health, education, and the U.S. economy. - Opposing Viewpoints in Context
- This link opens in a new window
Includes academic journal articles, newspaper articles, essays, statistics, websites, and other sources on current topics.
Find Statistics
Selected statistical sources:
- Data and Statistics about the U.S.
This link opens in a new window
Official statistical information available to the public from the US federal government. Includes economic and population trends, education, health care costs, aviation safety, foreign trade, energy use, and farm production.
Find Images and Videos
Selected resources to find videos and images:
- Creative Commons - Free ImagesThousands of images for you to use under creative commons license. Simply provide appropriate attribution to the original creator(s) of a work.
- WikimediaDatabase of freely usable media files on a wide variety of subjects.
- New York Public Library Digital GalleryOver 700,000 digitized images, many in the public domain. Please review the Library's Terms and Conditions before using any of these images.
- Smithsonian Collections
- This link opens in a new window
Search for images by checking the box that says: Only return results with online media. - Internet Movies Archive
- This link opens in a new window
Thousands of free movies, films, and videos ranging from classic full-length films to daily alternative news broadcasts to cartoons and concerts. Many available for free download.
- TEDVideo presentations on technology, entertainment, and design.
- American Rhetoric
- This link opens in a new window
Includes significant American political speeches, over 200 famous movie speeches and more. Contains both copyrighted and public domain material. Read copyright & fair use notice.
Find Books and More Through InfoKat Discovery
InfoKat Discovery allows you to quickly search multiple library resources simultaneously.
InfoKat Discovery searches the majority of UK resources, including books, journal articles, dissertations, government documents, archives and special collections, images, maps, videos, music and open access content.
BUT, InfoKat Discovery does NOT include ALL of the journal articles available through our databases--some databases are not included in InfoKat Discovery.
If you are doing very specialized searching or wish to limit your search to a particular database, you can select the database of your choice using the UK Libraries' Databases search.
The UK Libraries arranges books by Library of Congress (LC) call number. LC call numbers begin with letters of the alphabet. For example, most books on language and literature are in the range of P call numbers.
If Young Library is the location, check the Young Library map to determine the floor and wing for each call number. The P call numbers (language and literature) are split between the 4th floor and 5th floor.
If a book is located in another campus library, be sure to note the library location and call number. Check our list of library locations and the hours for each library.
Kentucky Information Resources
Selected resources specific to Kentucky and/or Lexington:
- Kentucky Newspapers in Access World News
- This link opens in a new window
Find local newspaper articles relating to your topic. Includes the Lexington Herald-Leader.
- Kentucky KernelUniversity of Kentucky student newspaper
- ExploreUK
- This link opens in a new window
Records of the University of Kentucky, includes yearbooks, historic papers, athletics archives, and photographic images held by the University Archives.
- University of Kentucky Regulations LibraryThe regulation and policy library serves as the official repository of all University-wide Governing and Administrative Regulations, and provides links to other University policy, in order to provide accurate and up-to-date policy information to the University community.
- Kentucky and Local InformationResearch guide on all things Kentucky, including history and government.
- Louisville Courier-Journal
- This link opens in a new window
Use subject index to help improve search results. - Kentucky Digital Library
- This link opens in a new window
Photos, maps, newspapers, and other Kentucky historical materials.
- Lexington KY WebsiteOfficial site of Lexington-Fayette County Urban Government (LFUCG).
- Kentucky State Data CenterStatistics and census data on Kentucky.
How to Get Full-Text
When searching for journal articles, you will notice the View Now button on many of your search results. Clicking on the View Now button will lead you to the article itself, links to the full text of the article, or it will let you know that we do not have full text of the article.
If the full text is not available, you can search InfoKat Discovery for a print copy of the article. If we do not have a print copy, you can request an interlibrary loan (ILL). For articles, these usually arrive pretty quickly.
Have questions? Ask Us for help.
Search Google Scholar
Google Scholar provides an easy way to search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and resources. See instructions for setting up Google Scholar to access additional online fulltext available to UK users.
If you search Google Scholar instead of just searching Google, you can dig deeper into the billions of resources contained on the web. But did you know that Google only searches around 30% of the web?