LibGuides: Getting Started with your Paper / Project: Choose a Topic

Library Help

Email a Librarian
Best for simple informational requests. (Response will be via email.)
Subject and Topic Guides
Browse the Subject Guides (grouped by adademic subjects) and other guides designed to help library users with their research.
Research Consultations
Request a Research Consultation with a Reference Librarian for help with in-depth informational needs.
Consult Library Tutorials
Videos and interactive tutorials on various topics, including Finding Articles, Peer Review, searching databases, etc.

Choose a Topic

In order to pick a topic for your research you may want to consult your instructor, reference sources, articles, news sources (if applicable), and books. If you are unsure of a topic you could try browsing one or more of the following periodicals for ideas:

General

Daedalus
Drawing on the nation’s most prominent thinkers in the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences, as well as the professions and public life, Dædalus, Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, explores the frontiers of knowledge and issues of public importance. Recent issues have examined Access to Justice; Inequality as a Multidimensional Process; Science and the Legal System; Why Jazz Still Matters; Political Leadership; Ethics, Technology, and War; Russia Beyond Putin; and The Prospects and Limits of Deliberative Democracy.

Points of View Reference Center
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Designed to foster discussion & debate, the Points of View Reference Center is a full-text database that provides a series of essays covering current news & issues from multiple perspectives.
Science Magazine
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Access full text articles of Science Magazine published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
TLS (Times Literary Supplement)
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Begun in 1902, TLS has become the world’s leading journal for literature and ideas. Every week, they publish book reviews, book extracts, essays and poems from leading writers and cover a broad range of subjects, from anthropology to zoology, philosophy to politics, comedy to psychology. It is the only major English-language publication to review books published in other languages, including French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian. Issued weekly, TLS also reviews the latest in fiction, film, opera, theatre, dance, radio and television.

News

Access World News Research Collection (NewsBank)
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Access World News features reliable, credible information from a wide variety of international, national and local news sources. In addition to the news articles, the database offers Special Reports,
Hot Topics, and Daily Headlines & Lesson Plans.
Full-page images of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch began in January 2020.

Videos and Help: https://www.newsbank.com/videos?qt-video_gallery_tabs=1#qt-video_gallery_tabs
New York Times - Online Subscriptions for UMSL Students, Faculty & Staff
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The Libraries have purchased subscriptions to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal for all students, faculty & staff. Individual accounts are required. Click this link for more information on how to sign up.
New York Times with Index‎, 1851 - 4 years ago (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)
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Coverage: 1851 - four years ago. Full indexing: 1851-1993. Provided through the generosity of an anonymous Mercantile Library donor with deepest gratitude from the UMSL University Libraries.
Wall Street Journal - Online Subscriptions for UMSL Students, Faculty & Staff
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The Libraries have purchased subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times for all students, faculty and staff. Individual accounts are required. Click this link for more information on how to sign up.