Transcription
Cradle Reference is an academic alternative to Wikipedia. It covers everything from Andy Warhol to illegal immigration with fact-based information from multiple perspectives.
Begin at the library homepage. Click on the Databases A to Z by Subject tab and on the right under Useful Links, click on eBook Collections.
Kratos, the first on the list, includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, books of quotations, and more. Both Kratos and Gale Ebooks are a great first step on your research journey.
Click the database link and get past the firewall by entering your CUNY First username and password, the same one you use for Blackboard. Underneath the main search box, see "Research Popular Topics" if you don't yet have a topic, or watch some of these excellent videos in the "Research Quick Tips" area.
In this case, let's assume that you are researching immigrants or refugees. Go to the top and put in your keywords. Let's type "refugees" and hit enter.
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There are over 8,000 articles from various reference books, numerous images, and at the top right, an interactive mind map. Clicking "Related Concepts" allows you to explore your topic from various angles and to possibly narrow your topic. Enjoy the exploration, but be aware of getting overly distracted.
Note that you can limit by type of source, by subject, by media, by date, and by the length of the entries. I recommend clicking on "Long entries" to find significant overviews of a topic. Notice by limiting, we now only have 8,000 entries.
The first topic discusses an interesting question: Are there over a million foreigners living illegally in Britain? Or this third one discusses immigration to the United States, illegal immigration, and other key concepts. As it says, click the title for the full text.
This entry from the book American Governance gives a concise historical overview from immigration and politics in the early years of the United States to immigration and the future of American politics. The "See Also" area links to related items in this book, and after the author's bibliography, you had the citation for this entry. Don't forget to copy and paste in the proper citation style.
The citation is also at the top, as well as options to save, print, and share this article. You can also listen to the article or translate it.
For more details on this database and other library resources, contact us through the ways mentioned here on the right side of the library homepage.