Acalanes Library Homepage: Guide to Accessing Databases

Basic Access: Step-by-Step Instructions

To log into any of the subscription databases:

• Click on the database link 
• If prompted for login & password, enter those
• Enter in your search term or term in the box on the homepage
• Try a basic search first; try an advanced search if the basic search is too broad or too narrow
• Visit this site for more in-depth information on how to search Databases 101: Basic and Advanced Searching Guide

•  Five Steps for Vetting a News Source

• Ad Fontes Media

  Interactive Media Bias Chart displays ratings for news sources' reliability and bias.

• AllSides

  Displays the day’s top news stories from the Left, Center and Right of the political spectrum — side-by-side so you can see the full picture.

• FactCheck.org

  From the Annenberg Public Policy Center

• Google Fact Check Explorer

  Designed to facilitate the work of fact checkers, journalists, and researchers in discovering what has and hasn’t been debunked all over the globe.

• Ground News

  Mobile app, browser extension, and website that curates/aggregates news stories from numerous sources and labels the source by bias rating.

• MediaWise

  The MediaWise Teen Fact-Checking Network (TFCN) publishes daily fact-checks for teenagers, by teenagers. The program is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network’s code of principles.

• News Guard

  Detailed Source Reliability Ratings, produced by a team of expert analysts using apolitical journalistic criteria and a transparent process help to identify reliable sources of information, with coverage of more than 35,000 online sources.

• PolitiFact

  From the Poynter Institute

• Snopes

  The original fact-checking site online.

ProQuest is a bit more complicated. Follow these suggestions for the most efficient use of ProQuest.

• Click on ProQuest link on the AHS Databases page
• You will need to enter the password if not on campus. NOTE: THE PASSWORD IS DIFFERENT! Add 2! to the usual password
• On the homepage, SCROLL DOWN TO THIS TILE and click on it (this is the MAIN ProQuest site:
• 
• If you'd like to use the other tiles, those are all accessible to us as well, but they are more specific
• Once ProQuest Platform is open ALWAYS go to Advanced Search:
• 
• Click here to learn how to fill in fields for a ProQuest Advanced Search

Scholarly or Peer-Reviewed Journals

• Written for a subject specific academic audience by scholars with credentials listed
• Vetted by subject peers or experts
• Contain original research / data; footnotes and bibliography
• Not for profit
• Click HERE for a more complete explanation of the peer review process in the sciences from UC Berkeley

Popular Magazine or Newspapers

• Written for a general audience by journalists who may not have special subject expertise
• Do not have footnotes or sources listed
• Not peer-reviewed
• Opinion pieces and editorials can have bias
• For profit