Need help finding sources for another course? Check out our full list of research guides to see if there's a guide for your course. If not, check out the Subject guides on the same page to find research guides for any department or program at Wellesley.
This guide aims to help you find sources for your research papers. If you'd like help navigating these resources or finding or citing sources for your individual research topics, I'm happy to meet with you! – Karen Storz, Research & Instruction Librarian
SuperSearch can be a great place to start to find out what's out there on your topic. SuperSearch will find books, journal articles, films, news, and almost everything else the library has — from popular to scholarly sources. You can use the filters on the results screen to improve your results.
For searching with more focus and precision, try one of the databases recommended on this guide.
Specialized dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and other reference works can be good starting places for getting an overview of a topic, definitions of key terms, vocabulary for searching, and suggestions for further reading. The following databases allow you to search across multiple reference works at once.
Annotated bibliographies for a variety of subject areas.
Over 400 full-text academic encyclopedias, language dictionaries, books of quotations, and other sources. Includes subject-specific titles from art, classics, history, law, linguistics, literature, media studies, medicine, performing arts, philosophy, religion, science and technology, politics, and more.
Biographies, topic overviews, reviews, and scholarly analysis of authors and works from all genres, eras, and regions of the world.
19,000+ biographies of selected figures from American history, written by prominent scholars.
Hundreds of full-text academic encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other sources for introductions to topics, definitions, or factual information. Includes subject-specific titles from art, literature, education, science, religion, history and more.
The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of Los Angeles by 
A Dictionary of Film Studies by 
Keywords for Media Studies by 
The Anthem Handbook of Screen Theory by 
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers (e-book)Use quotation marks " " to search words as a phrase. This will narrow your results.
"thin blue line"
Use AND to combine multiple concepts in your search. This will narrow your results.
"thin blue line" AND truth
Use OR to find different ways your topic could be expressed. This will expand your results. Group these related terms in parentheses, so the database interprets them first. The following search will find results that have any one of the terms in parentheses as well as the phrase "thin blue line."
"thin blue line" AND (truth OR fact OR objectivity OR narration)
Use an asterisk * to find variant endings. This will expand your results. In the example below, narrat* will find narration, narrative, narrrator, etc.)
"thin blue line" AND (truth OR fact OR objectivity OR narrat* )