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Wellesley College Research Guides

ENG 294: Writing AIDS

Because SuperSearch contains so much content from so many different kinds of sources and disciplines, it can sometimes be hard to focus a search to get the most relevant results. At the same time, SuperSearch is also not comprehensive and can miss key sources. To search with more focus, precision, and depth, also try the specialized databases recommended on this guide, or the library catalog for books and films. 

Find Historical Reviews & News

SuperSearch can be a helpful starting place for finding primary sources that provide historical evidence about your cultural artifact.  Use the publication date limiter to find mentions of the artifact during a particular time period — e.g., around the time of its creation or publication. Limit by content type, such as newspaper and magazine articles, to look at evidence in the popular press.

Important Note: Many sources from of our historical news databases and primary source collections do not come up in SuperSearch results, so be sure to check out the databases on our Historical News guide as well as the primary source collections on this guide for more options.

 

Find Analysis of Your Film, Text, Artwork, etc. (Databases)

These databases are a good place to find articles and chapters from scholarly journals and books, and some also contain content from newspapers, magazines, and other sources. It's always a good idea to search in more than one database. Even when there's considerable overlap in content, the different features of each database can help you find different sources. Check out our full Database A-Z list and sort by Subject to find other databases for your topic.

Multidisciplinary 

Art

Film & Television

Literature

MLA Search Tip: MLA is an index, so you're searching a small amount of information about each source, rather than the source itself. Trying a variety of keywords is often essential to getting the best results in MLA. Make note of relevant keywords and subject terms that come up in your initial searches, and use those terms to find more.

Music

See the A-Z Databases page and filter by subject for additional options.

Find Background & Context (Encyclopedias & More)

Find Primary Sources and Context (Archives & Websites)

Find more on the Queer History page of our Primary Sources - History research guide.

Find Books & Films with the Catalog

Library Catalog Search Tips

Try a keyword search. Once you find a book that is relevant to your topic, use the subject terms for that book to help you find "more like this" and explore different aspects of a broader topic.

Example keyword search:  aids AND artist*

Subject terms for books from this keyword search lead you to many more books on aspects of the topic, for example:

ACT UP (Organization)

AIDS (Disease) and the arts > United States.

AIDS activists > United States.

AIDS (Disease) > United States > History.

Selected Books