Locating information about Current Events
There are some important things to keep in mind as you search for
information about a current event. The tips listed below will help you locate credible information
about current news topics.
Tips for Researching Current Events Topics
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Understanding the role of publication timing and limitations. The publication of
current event information follows a timeline that will impact when scholarly information becomes
available. Information about current events can first be found via online news sources, such as CNN
and MSNBC. They will then appear in newspapers within the next few days, followed by weekly news
magazines. Scholarly information about a current event can take up to a year or more to appear in
print as scholarly articles take longer to research, write, and publish than do news stories. If
you are researching a very current topic, you should not expect to find scholarly sources about
that particular event. However, you may find information about similar events that will be useful
to your research. The
Information Cycle is a short video that explains in more detail
the timeline for publication of information about a current event.
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Suggested strategies if you need scholarly sources: Choose events that have been
going on for at least several months, older events, or events that can be placed in historic
perspective. By choosing events that meet one or more of these criteria, you should be able to
locate sufficient scholarly sources on your topic, which you can then combine with news
sources.
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Print sources for current events topics. Articles in these sources tend to be
brief and to report or describe the facts, offering little or no analysis. While these may be good
sources for descriptions and facts, most research assignments require academic, authoritative, and
detailed analyses of events.
Browse recent issues of the following for ideas:
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Facts on File - Undergraduate Reference Collection, call number Q 070 Ed46
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Editorials on File - Undergraduate Reference Collection, call number 051 FACT
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Newsweek - Undergraduate Library periodicals
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Time - Undergraduate Library periodicals
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CQ Researcher - Undergraduate Reference Collection, call number 300.97305 CQ.
Online
edition.
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Online sources for current events topics. Articles in these sources tend to be
brief and to report or describe the facts, offering little or no analysis. While these may be good
sources for descriptions and facts, most research assignments require academic, authoritative, and
detailed analyses of events.
Search the following for ideas:
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Access World News
The first place to look for newspaper articles.
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Lexis-Nexis Academic
Select the
Power Search tab and then select
U.S. Newspapers and Wires from the options in
Select Source.
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Newspaper Source (EBSCO)
- Identifies articles in regional U.S. newspapers, international newspapers, newswires and
newspaper columns, as well as TV and radio news transcripts.
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Use RSS feeds to keep current. This short video tutorial explains how to set up
RSS feeds so that you receive current information about topics of interest.
Current Awareness
(Video Tutorial - Flash player required)
Print a handout for Finding Current
Events information.
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