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Library Guide for Online Students

This guide is for students taking online classes at Moorpark College

Academic Databases

  • Mini search engines with authoritative and credible information
  • Are accessible off campus with your VCCCD username and password
  • Resources are free and you can download, print, and email them to yourself
  • Contain searchable information about subjects or studies for reading, writing, and research
  • Gain access to peer-reviewed articles, newspapers, magazines, reports, and reference materials

Library Databases by Subject

Bloom's Literature

  • Literary criticism and analysis, plot background and characters, and author information. 

CQ Researcher

  • In-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy.

Gale eBooks

  • Online reference database with eBooks that covers multiple topics, including history, medicine, and law.

Gale Academic OneFile 

  • Provides articles from over 17,000 scholarly journals and other authoritative sources—including podcasts and transcripts from NPR and CNN as well as videos from BBC Worldwide Learning.

EBSCO Academic Search Complete

  • Multidisciplinary database with journals, periodicals, reports, books and more.

EBSCO Communication & Mass Media Collection

  • Communication studies database with full-text journals covering all related disciplines, including media studies, linguistics, rhetoric and discourse.

CQ Researcher

  • ​In-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy.

Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context 

  • Covers today's hottest social issues, from capital punishment to immigration to marijuana.

Issues & Controversies

  • Helps researchers understand today’s crucial issues by exploring hundreds of hot topics in politics, government, business, society, education, and popular culture.

Issues & Controversies in American History

  • Delivers dynamic, concise, and balanced coverage that provides the background, outcome, and contemporary points of view for every major debate and conflict in American history. Recent controversies include Coronavirus and Paying College Athletes.

Proquest US Newsstream, Alt-PressWatch*, Ethnic NewsWatch*, GenderWatch* 

  • ​Access to the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Economist, The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe.

NexisUni

  • Includes news, publications, court cases, law reviews, company information, and country information for Political Science, Business and Criminal Justice majors.

Search Strategy

Break Your Topic Down Into Concepts

Examples:

  • If you're researching “rates of sexually transmitted infections across race,” your search should include three concepts: 1) Sexually Transmitted Infections; 2) race; and 3) rates

Articles may refer to the same concept using different terms-use different keywords when searching to retrieve the maximum number of articles.

Examples:

  • Some articles may refer to STIs as “sexually transmitted infections” others may use the term "sexually transmitted diseases"
  • To retrieve the maximum number of relevant articles, search for "sexually transmitted infections" OR "sexually transmitted diseases" when you begin searching
  • If you're looking for articles on the “psychological impact of contracting an STI,” you might use the terms impact, effect, or consequence to retrieve relevant articles.