HES 210 Research Guide

The purpose of collecting background information is to educate yourself holistically on your topic. Having a holistic perspective and solid understanding of your topic will help you focus your research. Background information includes the basic facts and history, current issues, relevant statistics and global impact of your problem/issue. The 5Ws are very helpful questions to ponder when collecting your background information:

• Who?
  • ​People/population/culture impacted the most by your issue/problem
• What?
  • Explain your issue - provide a definition including the facts, history, consequences surrounding your issue/problem. Consider the opposing viewpoints (pro/con) of your issue/problem
• Where?
  • Global impact/geographic locations impacted the most by your topic/issue
• When?
  • Current, historical, future aspects of your topic and how it has evolved/changed over time
• Why?
  • Why is this a significant cultural health issue? Also consider why did you choose this topic?

The best place to gather this information is through a variety of sources including books and eBooks, reference works, open web sources, news articles and government agencies and organizations. This page identifies some of the best resources to search for background information.

Think of One Search as the MCC equivalent of Google searching. When you execute a search using One Search, it searches all of MCC's electronic resources including the library catalog, library databases and library research guides. It's a great first step in your research process to determine if your topic is "researchable". One Search may also recommend specific databases you can search. To search One Search, visit the MCC Library homepage and look for MCC's Libraries ONE Search in the middle of the library homepage.

The MCC Library subscribes to several online databases that provide access to eBooks and online reference books:

EBSCO eBooks - search over 100,000 academic, non-fiction books with recent publication dates.

Credo Academic Core - search an extensive collection of dictionaries, handbooks, and encyclopedias for articles and entries on all topics and disciplines. 

Gale eBooks (Virtual Reference Library) - search a comprehensive collection of online reference books. Includes a core collection of medical reference books.

There are several reference and humanities databases that will help you collect background information on your topic:

CQ Researcher - Provides in-depth reports and supplemental updates on current issues, trends and hot topics. 

Issues & Controversies - Explores and analyzes hundreds of hot topics including crime, law, energy, education, health, family, science, foreign policy, race, rights, society, and culture. 

Opposing Viewpoints in Context - Explores today's hot topics and issues providing pro/con essays, news and magazine articles and statistics. 

Print books and reference books are a great starting point when beginning your background research. The MCC Library has an abundant collection of books and reference books in the library. When searching the library catalog directly from the MCC library homepage, look for the catalog tab in the middle of the library homepage.

The MCC Libraries have three news databases you can search for current, local and global news perspectives on your topic:

Arizona Republic - for a local news perspective, search the full-text content of articles published in the Arizona Republic newspaper from 1999 to present day.

US Major Dailies - provides full-text access to the nations top newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, LA Times and Washington Post.

Ethnic NewsWatch - access journals, magazines and newspapers from over 400 publications from ethnic and minority presses.