Scholarly Search Engines

Here you'll find several search engines especially designed for academic research that will help you get your hands on relevant information.

• Google Scholar - Broadly search for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources.
• Googlebooks - Browse an index of thousands of books, look through the pages and learn where you can get a hard copy.
• Microsoft Academic - A reliable, comprehensive research tool that you can use to search by topic or field of study.
• Educational Resources Information Center - Populated by the U.S. Department of Education, you can search here for education-related literature.

Databases

If you’re doing research on your own, the Library offersdatabases where you can find information on a variety of topics. You might find some of these databases -- roughly divided by subject -- helpful:

General Information

• Britannica Online Public Library Edition - Britannica Online Public Library Edition includes 4 full encyclopedias, full-text magazine articles, verified web sites, homework help, a world atlas, Merriam-Webster dictionaries and thesauri, a Spanish-English dictionary and video and audio content.
• GALE Academic OneFile - Academic OneFile is a comprehensive collection of periodicals and scholarly journals, on a wide range of topics.
• GALE General OneFile - General OneFile offers millions of articles covering a full range of academic and general-interest topics.
• GALE Student Edition - Offers periodicals and reference book content supporting high school student research.
• GALE The New York Times - This database includes full-text of the New York Times from January 1, 1985 to the present.

Geography

• GALE Global Issues in Context - Analyzes social, political, economic and other issues from a non-US perspective.

History

• GALE U. S. History in Context - Provides information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History.
• GALE World History in Context - Offers contextual content on significant people, events and topics in world history.
• GALE Biography in Context - References and multimedia delivery history-spanning coverage of people from around the world, and all throughout history.
• GALE U.S. History Collection - Robust coverage for both novice historians and advanced researchers.
• Sherborn’s History Book Collection - Review historically significant, digitized books from and about Sherborn’s past, contributed to the Internet Archive and administered by the Boston Public Library.

Foreign Language

• Mango Language Learning - Learn everyday conversations in multiple world languages! The Boston Public Library offers Mango Language Learning to all Massachusetts residents.To use Mango, you’ll need a Boston Public Library card.If you have one, great! If not, it's easy to get an electronic card online, by clicking here and completing the electronic form---no visit to Boston required.
• Word Reference - Word Reference is an online bilingual dictionary from/to English and many other languages.

Literature

• GALE Literature Resource Center - Biography, criticism and overviews on 130,000 writers in all disciplines.

Science and Technology

• GALE Science in Context - Timely reference content joins science-based articles, news, experiments and more.
• GALE General Science Collection - Updated daily, this collection includes 1.6 million articles and 200 journals.

Websites

Beyond these databases, you might try these websites for additional homework help:

• The Purdue Online Writing Lab - Learn how to write and cite in MLA and APA styles, write a basic business letter and develop a resume.
• Khan Academy - Offers short instructional lectures on a variety of science, math and language topics, all in the form of YouTube videos.
• Visual Dictionary by Meriam Webster - Quickly glance at the index to connect words with images. Explore the 15 major themes to access more than 6,000 images and see words like never before.
• No Fear Shakespeare - Puts the bard’s language side-by-side with a facing-page translation into modern English – the kind of English people actually speak today.

Additional Resources

Beyond the databases and websites, you may find these additional resources useful:

• OverDrive Digital Media Catalog - Provides popular audio-books and e-books (“unputdownables!”) to download.
• Hoopla - The Library at your fingertips, any time, anywhere. Allows you to borrow music, audio-books, e-books, comics and TV shows to enjoy on your computer, tablet, phone or TV.

You may wonder: what’s the difference between a Library database and a website?