Library Guide: Basic sources for speeches and hot topics

University of Arkansas Libraries, Fayetteville

Library Guide: Sources for speeches and basic papers

Some of these sources are available online; others are held at the Reference desk or in the Reference Collection. Ask for help at Mullins Library's Reference Desk.

Facts and Statistics

The World Almanac and Book of Facts (online) or in print (Ref AY 67 .N5 W7) at the Reference Desk
Statistical Universe (online)
The Illustrated Book of World Rankings. (Ref HA 155 .K87)
FactSearch, also known as A Matter of Fact(online). Citations to articles, and extracts, especially of statistical data.

Digests

CQ Researcher- in print copy at H35 .E35. The Reference Desk has the current year; previous issues in Mullins (Main) Library, on Level 3. Overviews, discussion and pro/con on social issues.
The Reference Shelf (PN 4177 .R4) gathers articles and speeches on a specific subject into in favor of (pro) or against (con) sections.

Speeches and Opinions

Representative American Speeches (PS 668 .B3) collects and indexes important speeches for a given year.
Vital Speeches of the Day (online in ProQuest,1987- and in Ebscohost, 1990-. Search by Vital Speeches of the Day and the speaker's name). Also at PN 6121 .V52 in the Periodicals Room, for current year; prior years on the shelf by call number.

Quotations

Familiar Quotations (Ref PN 6081 .B27 16th edition) also known as "Bartlett's". Also, Familiar Quotations in electronic format (9th and 10th editions, only [1911]).
The Home Book of Quotations (Ref PN6081 .S73).
Respectfully Quoted (Ref PN6081 .R435 1989).

Biographical information

Biography Resource Center (online)
Who's Who in America (Ref E663 .W56); other titles in the series, such as Who's Who among Asian Americans, or Who's Who among Black Americans, are also available.
Biographical and Genealogical Master Index (online). Lists where to find information, rather than giving you the information.
Current Biography (Ref CT100 .C8).

Encyclopedias and other reference works

There are general and subject-specific encyclopedias in the Reference area:

Access Science, also known as the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
Encyclopedia of Life Sciences
Encyclopedia of Sociology (Ref HM 17 .E5 1992)
International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports (Ref GV709 .I58 2001)
World Christian Encyclopedia : A Comparative Survey of Churches and Religions in the Modern World.(Ref BR157 .W67 2001)

General Indexes: (for articles)

For current information, or the most recent information on a topic, articles in journals, newspapers or magazines are the best place to begin. To find articles, start with indexes, such as:

Ebscohost Indexes thousands of titles.You may search one or more parts of this database at the same time. The collections hold subject-specific titles-- for example, the Professional Development collection is fulltext education journals; the Sociology Collection is sociology and social work journals, and so on. Ebscohost includes some fulltext articles, and also links back to our library collection if we hold the periodical in another format.
Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (Index AI 3 .R48). The paper copies cover from 1900-present.
ProQuest Direct indexes about 1, 800 journals and magazines, and provides fulltext articles from 900+ of them.You may also select specific parts of the database to search. CINAHL is now included in ProQuest, for example. Not all articles from every issue are available.

Some other indexes:

Agricola
America History and Life Social, economic and political history of the United States and Canada.
Applied Science and Technology Index
Biological Abstracts
CAB Abstracts
ERIC Indexes education journals and reports, and shows call numbers for journals we own.
Historical Abstracts European and other history
JSTOR Older issues of selected journals in fulltext, with a large backfile covering many years. History, education, sociology, math, economics, and so on.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe-- primarily newspapers, legal materials
P.A.I.S. Indexes public affairs journals. International scope, and a broad range of topics.
PsycINFO (online) indexes psychology journals in great depth, and shows call numbers for journals we own. Now it's available through Ebscohost, and there is some full-text.
Sociological Abstracts (online) indexes sociology and social work journals; shows call numbers for journals we own

Ask at the Reference Desk for help.

Abstracts and Indexes in the University of Arkansas Libraries lists more indexes (Reference Desk).

If you have a question or need help, please come to the Reference Desk on Level 2 (entrance floor) and ask us, E-mail to refer@uark.edu, or call 575-6645.

NPG 11/93:10/98:1/02 revision