In the other pages of this Guide we look at conducting database research to locate scholarly research into the topic of tap water quality. In this guide we look at how to learn about the local issues with tap water. For this project, you are limited to looking at the water issues in Fresno and Madera counties.
One difficulty with local media is that the local news papers are hidden behind a pay-wall. This means you have to pay for access. This guide outlines:
Research Tip
The following resources cover both national and some local news. Despite national coverage, these resources contain coverage of local issues too. When searching, be sure to add "AND Fresno or Madera" or "AND "San Joaquin Valley"" to your search terms so that you get coverage of local issues.
To sign up for an account for The New York Times, you MUST create an account through the access we provide you. Go to Clovis Community College NYT Account to set up your free account. Once you have a username and password, you can access The New York Times directly.
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EBSCOhost Databases
The following databased can be found in EBSCOhost, and you can search all of these databases at once. If you are unfamiliar with how to do that, go back to the Research Databases Basic Instruction page, and in the How to Search Box, review the Search Multiple EBSCO Databases tab.
Local news sources are an obvious place to start searching. However, often, local newspapers require a paid subscription to access their articles. Below is a list of some local resources. Before going directly to these resources, look at the Google search tips below. The resources are organized by paid subscription and free resources.
You can access a few articles without subscription.
One way to locate news resources is to use the news filter in Google.
When searching in Google, be sure to use all of the tips you learned in the Research Databases Basic Instruction page. Use keywords and put terms in quotations. Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are a little different in Google, so you can always use the "Advanced Search" feature to form your search. Once you have conducted a preliminary search you can access the "Advanced Search" feature by clicking on the gear icon on the right hand side of the Google webpage.
Once you create a search, you can filter that search for "News" by clicking on that filter just below the search bar.
As is mentioned above in the section on links to local media, the search feature within the ABC 30 website does not work well. Therefore, you can use Google to locate articles within a website. To do this, in Advanced Search, enter your search terms in the applicable top fields and put the website address in the "site or domain:" field. Here is an example.
