Try and deconstruct your research question. Make a list of topical concepts by asking the following questions:
What do I need to know about this topic?-- Break down your topic by identifying the people, places, events, or the specific time period of your research
How current must my information be? Do I need to compare and contrast time periods? --Identify significant dates and time periods for your research.
Do I need an eyewitness account? Do I need facts, statistics or quotes? Or, do I want to analyze public opinion?--Identify where this information would be found.
Will different newspapers provide differing viewpoints, perspectives, or characterizations of an event?-Search according to the source.
Developing a search strategy
Choose keywords that describe the important concepts of your research topic.
Determine whether there are synonyms, related terms, or other variations of keywords that should be included in a search string.
Provides the full archive of the New York Times, from the first date of issue. View retrieved articles as PDFs or view the entire newspaper page for context. The detailed indexes, which cover 1851-1993, allow one to search by named person, company name, place, or type of article (editorial, obituary, review, etc.)
Covers: 1785-[5 years ago]. Provides a fully searchable archive of this major world newspaper back to the 18th century, including both page images and search text transcription.
Covers: 1785-. Allows users to search across both the 19th Century U.S. Newspaper collection as well as the Times of London Archive. Filter results by newspaper name or date or limit to front page stores only. Or, browse by location or publication title. A part of Gale Primary Sources
This project at the Library of Congress offers digitized papers from all states and provides a directory of papers published since 1960. Search by keyword, browse by date or place, or limit to dates or ethnic groups.
Includes the full image of articles published in the Chicago Defender from 1910 to 1975. The Chicago Defender was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. With the majority of its readership outside the Chicago region, it served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S. You can browse individual issues by clicking Publications at the top of the screen, or search by keyword(s), author(s), article title, date ranges, and more. Includes illustrations and advertisements.
Provides access to more than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries. Created in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress, African American Newspapers chronicles a century and a half of the African American experience. Includes issues from the Arkansas Freeman (1869), the Arkansas Mansion (1883-1884), the Arkansas State Press (1941- 1959), and Homeland (Forrest City, 1991-1999).
Provides a searchable archive of Southeastern papers, included those from Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Includes Arkansas newspapers from Fayetteville, Blytheville, Benton, Camden, Harrison, Hope, and Gentry.
This project at the Library of Congress offers digitized papers from all states and provides a directory of papers published since 1960. Search by keyword, browse by date or place, or limit to dates or ethnic groups.
Covers: 1800-1922. Provides access to more than 40 fully searchable African newspapers. Features titles from Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Languages include English, German, French, Portuguese, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sotho, and others.
Covers: 1980-. Offers the full text of newspapers, magazines, wire services, and blogs published outside the U.S. and Canada, including the Guardian (1996-), the Irish Times (1995-), the Jerusalem Post (1988-), and the Times (London,2011-). A part of the ProQuest Central database.
Offering scholarly journal and magazine articles, newspapers, and other types of publications, ProQuest Central brings together 30 of ProQuest's most highly used databases. Includes scholarly journal articles, newspapers and trade magazines, books, and books.