Scholarly articles are not the most reader-friendly way to find background information. Use these databases to find reliable background info on your topic.
Remember: These are reference sources. These will not count as scholarly sources in your papers. Use these to help you narrow down your topic before searching for scholarly literature.
Pro tip: Search for your topic in the Keyword search bar or click on "Browse Topics" to explore reports by category. Check out the Bibliography of your report to find potential sources for your paper.
Pro tip: Use this to find background information as well as popular articles (newspapers, magazines, websites, etc.). This database does link to some scholarly articles, but keep an eye out for book reviews. Book reviews, while published in scholarly journals, are not scholarly research, so don't cite them in your papers. If you like the information in the review, look for the book in the library! It may be helpful for your research.
Pro tip: Struggling with way to define terms or concepts in your research? Use this database to search a wide variety of dictionaries and encyclopedias all at once.
Wikipedia has great information about a lot of different topics. While this is an excellent source to use in your everyday life, Wikipedia should not be cited in your research. Why you ask...
Great question! I would use Wikipedia in the following ways: