The semester is nearly over and your DePaul Librarians are busy digging deep into our books, journals, and databases to help find resources for your final research papers! When you’re searching for subject-specific databases for in-depth research on your topic, check out our Research Guides, which are specially curated to offer suggestions of databases, books, journals, websites, and more based around specific subjects. Just click on the blue “Research Guides” link underneath the main LibrarySearch bar on the library’s homepage and select any subject area listed on the Research Guide page to see multiple guides relating to each subject. Each guide contains a number of suggested resources as well as the contact information for a librarian who specializes in that topic and would love to hear from you! Reach out them with questions about your research or to find in-depth help from a subject expert.
Here are some research topics we’ve been helping students with lately:
- Hello! I’m looking for some sort of academic writing about cities in science fiction literature/cinema, but specifically cities that are tiered, have multiple levels, or are separated into upper/lower sections.
- I’m trying to find out about a mass media publication in Britain in the early 1960s titled Queen. An author who wrote for it is named Nick Cohn. He wrote about pop music and rock music. Can you give me any help on that?
- Hi, I am trying to make a search for research papers on the impact of leisure on life and happiness. How do I get to the spot to search for this?
- I’m in WRD 104 and I’m looking for some sources for my research essay. My topic is on Power Creep in media, but I tend to mostly focus on games and anime. Is it possible to get some help finding some?
- Hi, I am doing a research project concerning Japan and the declining birth rate, and wanted to see if COVID had any impact on that. Which database could I look for that in? Thank you!
- Hi! I am looking for articles/research that examine LGBTQ youth and the importance of discussing LGBTQ identity in the classroom from a young age
- Hi there, I am looking for newspapers articles and scholarly papers analyzing newspapers article covering the topics of Roe v Wade, abortion, and women’s rights from the 1970s. My final project will be comparing Roe v Wade reporting today versus in the 1970s. Is this something you can help with? Thank you!
Here’s a conversation between a DePaul student and one of our librarians:
Student: I am looking for peer reviewed articles discussing isolations effect on depression
DePaul Librarian: Hello! Absolutely, happy to help.
DePaul Librarian: I did a search for impact of isolation on depression on GoogleScholar and got some interesting results:
DePaul Librarian: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C14&q=impact+of+isolation+on+depression&btnG=
DePaul Librarian: I’d also suggest doing some searches in some of the psychology Databases. Are you familiar with the Psychology Research Guide?
Student: I don’t think I have ever used that.
DePaul Librarian: Oh great — so essentially it’s just a curated list of resources that are great for researching Psychology related topics! We have them for all different subjects.
DePaul Librarian: https://libguides.depaul.edu/psychology
DePaul Librarian: Any of those databases, especially APA PsycInfo and PsycArticles, will be really great places for this kind of research.
DePaul Librarian: Also, I’m curious, are you interested in this topic from any particular angle? Like isolation specifically related to COVID and such, or just in general?
DePaul Librarian: So I am looking at isolation and depression specifically in women because I am trying to start a therapy group that utilizes board games to encourage social connectedness.
DePaul Librarian: Awe that sounds really cool! In that case, I think adding “women” to your search would be a good move as well. Also, in PsycInfo and PsycArticles you can actually filter your results based on Gender — you’ll find that along the left side of the results page in those databases.
Student: Oh that’s perfect! Thanks for the heads up!
DePaul Librarian: Absolutely, my pleasure. It might also be worth making an appointment with Susan Shultz, our librarian who specializes in psych topics. Her contact info is on the right side of the Research Guide I sent a link to.
Student: Oh I see! Thanks. That’s perfect. I think I am good now. Thank you again
DePaul Librarian: No problem! Feel free to come back for more help anytime
Student: Will do!