Library databases are great because we can find lots of high-quality information appropriate for college-level work, much of which would not be available on the web.
Library databases are not so great in that they can be tricky to navigate. If you're new to database searching, please watch the OneSearch in One Minute and the Choosing and Using Keywords videos.
Even if you're an experienced database searcher, please watch the Opposing Viewpoints video. Opposing Viewpoints has a lot of content that we should not rely on, but that can still be useful.
If you have any questions about how to use the databases on this page, you can also email me at harrism@arc.losrios.edu, or contact any one of the ARC librarians.
OneSearch lets us search all the library databases and books at the same time. If OneSearch is working well for you, great. You can find the content from all the databases listed below using OneSearch.
However, the more content you are searching through at once, the harder it can be to find good stuff. Searching the other databases in addition to OneSearch can turn up great sources that got buried in OneSearch's results. Or, if using OneSearch is frustrating, try the other databases instead of OneSearch.
Los Rios Libraries' online catalog and access to the content of most databases held at Los Rios.
Newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals published by and about various racial and ethnic groups in the United States.
Viewpoint articles on current social issues and controversial topics.
Scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, education and other fields.
Tips for using Gale eBooks and Opposing Viewpoints Databases:
Tips for OneSearch, EBSCO Search and Ethnic NewsWatch Databases:
Using Parentheses: Use these around keywords separated by the word "OR" to expand your search and get more results.
Example: identity (black OR african american)
In the example above, we are running two searches at once:
black identity and african american identity
Using the Asterisk (*): Use this to shorten a word and search for all possible endings of a root word. This will give you more results
Example #1: gender*
This is searching for the keyword gender as well as the keywords: genders and gendering, etc.
Example #2: wom*n
This is searching for the keywords women and woman.