Research Guides at CSU Pueblo Library: COMR 103: Speaking and Listening: Starting research

Informational Speech Resources

Multiple Subjects

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Collection of 100 reference books on a wide range of topics. Use the Mind Map to narrow your topic or get new ideas!
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window
Contains encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
History Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Full text for 1,990+ reference books, encyclopedias and non-fiction books from leading history publishers. Curriculum resource.
Newswires This link opens in a new window
Real-time access to worldwide news, including AP Top News, WorldStream, Financial News, AP Online, U.S. Politics & Government and 50 State Reports.
SuperSearch This link opens in a new window
The CSU Pueblo Library has electronic access to millions of scholarly articles, conference proceedings, technical reports, magazine and newspaper articles, streaming videos, ebooks, and primary sources. The Library also has a large collection of print books, journals, magazines, newspapers, and maps.

Statista produces infographics on a variety of topics, that you can download and incorporate into your presentations, being sure to cite them.

Arts, Culture, Travel

The Art Story This link opens in a new window
The Art Story is an educational 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2009 to demystify Modern Art and further art appreciation. It offers overviews of movements within Modern Art.
Biography in Context This link opens in a new window
Contextual information on the world's most influential people.
Country Commercial Guides This link opens in a new window
Open access reports, prepared annually by U.S. embassies. These reports present a comprehensive look at foreign countries' commercial environments, using economic, political and market analysis.
Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity & Society This link opens in a new window
The Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society offers informative coverage of intergroup relations in the United States and the comparative examination of race and ethnicity worldwide.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music This link opens in a new window
This is the first comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, make this the most complete body of work focused on world music. This release (as of 11/5/2014) includes 1,217 essays and images from 10 sources and hundreds of audio examples.
Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure Collection This link opens in a new window
Journals, magazines, and trade publications that cover topics including the cultural and economic aspects of travel and tourism.
Popular Culture Collection This link opens in a new window
Useful information for researchers in social science, history, art or liberal arts courses.

Health, Environment, Science

Health and Wellness Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Provides reference sources on diseases and conditions, alternative medicine, herbs and drugs, and more.
GREENR This link opens in a new window
Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources - search by topic, case studies, geography, multimedia.
Science in Context This link opens in a new window
Contextual information on hundreds of today's most significant science topics, including experiments, images, videos, audio files and other curriculum resources.
Science Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Full-text entries of hundreds of science encyclopedias, reference books, and journals. Provides teachers with articles related to state and national curriculum standards.
Toxics Release Inventory This link opens in a new window
Laws, regulations, and data on disposal or other releases of 650+ toxic chemicals from U.S. facilities, and information on how facilities manage chemicals. Data from Environmental Protection Agency. Open access.

Searching Local Topics

Denver Post
Denver's daily newspaper.
High Country News
News form the Rocky Mountain region and the West, with a particular focus on environmental issues.
Pueblo Chieftain
Pueblo's daily paper does regular in depth series on issues that affect the community.

Search Strategies

Phrase Searching

Place several words within quotes to search those exact words in that exact order.

"rocky mountains"
"hydrocarbon pollution"

Truncation and Wildcards

Use a symbol (usually * or ?) to search all words that start with entered letters.

acid* searches for acid, acids, acidic, acidity, acidification, acidosis
neur* will search for anything dealing with the brain
*oxid* matches terms such as antioxidant, dioxide, oxidative, and polyphenoloxidase.
wom?n searches for woman and women

Boolean Operators

AND searches for both terms, OR searches for either term, NOT omits a term.

"heavy metal" AND "pollution" NOT "lead"
"heart" OR "card*"
"Na" OR "sodium"