What is a Popular Source?
Popular sources are written for a general audience and are intended to inform readers on various topics, such as news events, topics of current interest, and the business and entertainment worlds. Examples include newspapers, magazines, best-sellers, and consumer-oriented websites. They can be useful for getting ideas for a topic or background information. When used to document historical events, cultural practices, or public opinion, popular sources may be valuable to researchers as primary source material.
Typical characteristics of popular sources:
- informal in tone and scope, with language that is easily understood by the general public
- often include illustrations or advertisements
- content is usually written by journalists, staff writers, or free-lance writers
- do not report on original research, are not peer-reviewed, and rarely include citations
Finding Full Text
Many databases on the library's website include the full text of articles. Click on the PDF or HTML icon to download the article.
If full text is not available, click the Find It or 360 Link icons to see if there is access from another source.
Look for 
displayed for each item in the library's databases. In Google Scholar, look for Find Full Text @ Oberlin. Access via publisher websites is generally limited to subscribers.
Full text is not always accessible for immediate download. The 360 Link may lead to an intermediary page offering access through Interlibrary loan. If you have trouble, consult the library staff.
Databases
- Communication & Mass Media Complete This link opens in a new window
Scholarly journal and trade magazine articles on all aspects of communication, rhetoric, journalism, film and television studies.
- Factiva This link opens in a new windowFull-text global news sources, including newspapers, newswires, television and radio transcripts, numerous regional and industry publications, and images from Reuters. Content comes from ~160 countries in 22 languages. Only 3 Oberlin users at one time.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
A wide range of news, political, legal, and business information from thousands of sources, mostly full text. Includes newspapers, magazines, wire services, federal and state court opinions, federal and state statutes, federal regulations, and SEC filings. News information is updated daily and wire services several times daily.
- AP Archive This link opens in a new windowThe film and video archive of the Associated Press is freely available on YouTube. The collection includes over 1.7 million global news and entertainment stories dating back to 1895.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new window
Full-text coverage of newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press in America. Dates of Coverage: 1959 to date
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary - good for nearly all subjects. Scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, newspapers, conference proceedings, book reviews, and more.
