Not Enough Evidence? Where to go to Find Academic Sources

Stop searching through pages of non-academic articles that will only waste your time.

(Photo/MorgueFile)

Sometimes, the hardest thing to do when beginning a paper is to find the academic sources that support the claims that you are trying to make. While Google.com is a good place to begin gathering your thoughts and ideas, many of the websites that you will come across are not academic and should not be cited in an academic essay- so why chance it?

I use Google.com to give me ideas on what to put in the search bar of an academic database. These databases include:

• Google Scholar
• There is a drop-down menu on the top of the Google homepage that will let you select Google Scholar which gets rid of the junk articles and finds you the academic texts that you are looking for.
• Free
• College/University Databases
• If you are attending a college or university, your campus more likely offers you a set of free databases that you can use to find information.
• If you are in high school or younger, your school may not have the advanced databases that are found on college campuses but that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't use them. Go into the library of your local college and ask if it would be possible to gain access to the databases or if they will sign you in for a certain amount of time.
• Free or Some Cost
• EBSCO Host: Academic Search Complete
• Academic Search Complete is a great program that allows for students to search in dozens of disciplines to find the best articles for their papers.
• Free trial offer
• Academic Commons: Columbia University
• Columbia University allows free access for public use of their database and it is also multidisciplinary.

Try using these databases to start off- you should be able to find ample information to support whatever claims that you are writing about. Good luck!