Perhaps you want to gather more information about the variety of needs typical college students face today, or you already know which area of need you want to focus on (e.g. technology, food, wellness, or transportation). Either way, use the Western Library databases below as a starting point. Each has its strengths and weaknesses depending on your topic. You may end up searching and using sources from more than one database.
Library Search is Western's new (as of summer 2025) online library catalog. What's great about the new Library Search is that it not only searches our physical collection of items, but also our eBooks and audiobooks as well as most of our academic databases. If you are about to embark out on a research journey, Library Search is the perfect place from which to launch!
A giant database that covers a wide range of topics. Use it to find peer-reviewed scholarly articles, as well as articles from trade journals, newspapers, and magazines.
Use this database to understand basic concepts taught in your courses. It's also a great database for the first step in your research process. It contains short articles from encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks and other reference sources on a wide range of subjects. Get started on your assignment or research project by learning about key people, places, dates, events, concepts, and ideas related to your topic.
A great resource for writing assignments. Browse a wide list of subject categories from the database’s home page to find articles and information from scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, and multimedia. Content is provided in the fields of biology, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, environmental science, history, marketing, political science, psychology, and more. Includes Gale’s visual Topic Finder tool.
