CSI Library: Rhetoric and Composition: Recommended Article Databases

What is a Database?

A database is a collection of materials organized in a way that allows them to be searched. YouTube may be seen as a type of database. So is Amazon.com. You're already familiar with the concept of database use, even if you're not explicitly aware of it.

The databases on this page have been created specifically for academic use. Some are specialized and focused on particular subjects, and many are multi-disciplinary, covering a variety of subjects. If you are working from off-campus, you will need to log in using your SLAS account.

Multidisciplinary Databases

Please note that when using an EBSCO database, you can also simultaneously search other EBSCO databases. From any EBSCO search page, click on the blue "choose databases" link to the right of the blue EBSCO logo. A box will open displaying all the other EBSCO databases for which CSI has subscriptions. Click on the box next to the database or databases you want to search simultaneously.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Large multidisciplinary database providing abstracts and select full text of scholarly and popular publications in a wide variety of subject disciplines, including art, literature, education, history, sociology, science, and engineering. Because of its broad subject and full text coverage, Academic Search Complete is a good starting point for research on virtually any topic. Click here for a search tutorial.
Coverage Dates: 1887 to present

Google Scholar
Search engine for scholarly literature on the web. Searches across disciplines for journal articles, theses, books, conference papers, and technical reports from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Some articles may be available for free on the web. Others are only available through the library's subscription databases. To locate full text for those articles, click on the link "Find Full Text at CSI" (only available when using a campus computer or accessing Google Scholar through the campus proxy).

Opposing Viewpoints in Context This link opens in a new window
This database is now called Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints. Provides access to full text literature about current controversial issues such as abortion, capital punishment, climate change, cloning, gun control, immigration, and more. Available material on each topic includes viewpoint essays, topic overviews, newspaper and magazine articles, statistics, and links to related web sites.

Subject Specific Databases

Communications and Mass Media Complete
Communications and Mass Media Complete
Abstracts and select full text from over 650 journals in communications and mass media. Covers topics in journalism, film, television, marketing, business communication, health communication, and more.
Coverage Dates: 1915 to present

Gale OneFile: News This link opens in a new window
InfoTrac Newsstand is an innovative Web-based full-text newspaper database which allows users to search articles instantly by title, headline, date, newspaper section or other assigned fields. Finally, a one-stop source for the day's news and searchable archives. You can customize your online newspaper database features including search options. With InfoTrac Newsstand, you can search a collection of thousands of national, international, state and local newspapers, then select your own screen appearance, search options and results format.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
The MLA Bibliography is now provided on the EBSCOHost platform! Produced by the Modern Language Association (MLA), the MLA International Bibliography is an index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film, covering scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present. It includes citations to journal articles, books, articles in books, series, translations, scholarly editions, websites, and dissertations To check IF full text is available, click on the "Find it! @CUNY." This resource has the same citation content as the print MLA bibliography, not all the articles it references are instantly available in full text. If you need a particular article that is cited in the Bibliography and cannot find it in CUNY resources, you may need to use InterLibary Loan.
Coverage Dates: 1926 to present