Tracking Down Newspaper Articles in the Electronic Age

There are so many choices these days for finding newspaper articles, it's hard to know which will get you to where you want to go the fastest--or even just get you there period. An overview of four major categories available at Hope College may help you decide where to begin.

• Newspapers on the web
• LexisNexis
• Indexes: Newspaper Abstracts and print indexes....
• Ethnic NewsWatch

Newspapers on the Web Accessing newspapers via the web varies from newspaper to newspaper. Some, such as the Holland Sentinel, allow free full-text access. "Full text" does not necessarily mean that every article, letter to the editor, etc. is included in the web version.  Others require that you "sign up" for access. This usually means filling out a form (online) and giving them information. It sometimes means subscribing (paying a fee), just as you would for the print version. A list of newspaper links is available from the Van Wylen Library home page. Select electronic reference shelf from the main page, then News, and finally Newspapers to connect to the Newspapers on the World Wide Web page. You can connect to hundreds of web-version newspapers, both international and U.S. (some of these are subscription newspapers.) LexisNexis LexisNexis provides full-text access to over 300 newspapers. LexisNexis is most effective for searching a particular topic or trying to track down a specific article in a specific publication (you may not browse a particular issue of a newspaper). The LexisNexis opening screens provide excellent search tips. Start by choosing News, then General News, from the LexisNexis opening menus. On the Basic form, type your search in the Keyword search box. The Source Material default is Major Newspapers. The Date default is Previous six months--this can be changed by clicking on the down arrow button.

To locate a specific article, use the More Options form. Type the appropriate words in the search boxes: for example, words from the article's headline in the headline box. If you know the specific newspaper type the name in the Search this publication title box. Here is a sample template for finding a specific article for which you only have partial information: you aren't positive of the exact date (sometime in the last five years)--but you do know it was in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and that it concerned women involved in interfaith dialogue.

Indexes: Newspaper Abstracts and print indexes Newspaper Abstracts, available via FirstSearch, provides access to abstracts to articles in over 25 newspapers. While it does not access full-text documents, it is indexed by subject, which generally makes for very effective searching, as seen in the following example. The search interfaith and dialogue* brought up this record (and others):

The descriptors include ecumenism and conferences. Using these terms in a follow-up search will help locate other articles on this topic. Many of the articles identified via Newspaper Abstracts can be located (full text) in LexisNexis using the search technique described in the LexisNexis section of this web page. For searches prior to the 1990s, use print indexes, such as The New York Times Index, located in the Reference area. Ethnic NewsWatch Ethnic NewsWatch (also available via FirstSearch) is a full-text collection of over 130 minority press publications.  Here is a sample list of titles included in Ethnic NewsWatch: Biracial Child, Cherokee Advocate, Cleveland Jewish News, Hispanic Times, Polish American Journal, VietNow and Washington Afro American.

July 20, 2001