How to Find Newspaper Articles

Newspaper articles are excellent sources of both current information and a perspective on what people thought of an event while it was happening. To look for newspaper articles in AU Library, first ask yourself:

What is the date of my event, or what range of dates do I want to explore?

If the date is after 1980, use the Lexis Nexis Academic database.

If the date is before 1980, use a Print Index.

 

Using Lexis Nexis Academic

We recommend clicking on the Guided News Search unless you are doing a search for very recent articles on a topic that can be expressed in just one word or phrase. Once on the Guided News search form:

• Select a News Category (for example, General News ), and a news source (Major Papers would be good for main U.S. and international papers).
• Enter terms in the key word fields. For each, select where you want the term to be found (for example, Headline and Lead Paragraph).
• Select connectors between terms.
• Click on the Search button.

Analyze your results! If you got too many to look at, click on Edit Search and try one of the following:

• Add another word to your search using the AND connector
• Limit the date
• Limit to one newspaper
• If you have asked to find your words in the full text, try finding them in just the Headline

If you got too few articles, try one of the following:

• Eliminate one of your words
• Add some synonyms using the connector OR
• Use the wild card (!) to find all words sharing the same root (for example, murder! picks up murder, murders, murdered, and murderer)
• If you have set date or paper limits, take them off
• Ask to find words in the Headline and Lead Paragraph instead of the Headline

Print Indexes

Print newspaper indexes are located on the first floor of the library in the Reference Collection. Here are the indexes we have, and our years of coverage for each paper:

Paper Name	Index Covers	Issues we Have	Call No. in Ref.
New York Times	1875-present	1851-present	AI21 .N44
Washington Post	1979-present	1930-present	AI21 .W32
Los Angeles Times	1972-1994	1970-present	AI21 .L
Christian Science Monitor	1960-1994	1960-present	AI21 .C
Wall Street Journal	1955-present	1955-present	AI21 .W3
London Times	1786-1852	1785-1913
	1970-present	1970-present	AI21 .T46

 

How to Read an Index Entry

Here is an entry from the 1945 New York Times Index

POLAND: Freed French POW describes Ger Treatment of Jews in Rawa Russka ghetto, Ap 10,5:6

The entry consists of

• the dateline
• the headline
• the date (April 10, 1945)
• the section and page (This paper only had one section--the article is on page 5)
• the number of columns from the left (column 6)

To get this article you would go to the Copy Center (lower level of the library), and ask the staff at the desk for this issue of the New York Times. You will get a roll of microfilm, which you can read and print out from one of the readers (the readers use the library copy card--printing is 15 cents per page).

Searching Tip #1: Remember that the terms people used to describe events or groups of people in the past are usually different than we use today. You may have to dig in order to find the right words. If you are having trouble, try connecting your event to a person or a place, and look up that name. You may find a cross reference telling you to "See" or "See Also" the heading the index uses for that event.

Searching Tip #2: The New York Times has a separate Personal Name Index. If you are looking up a person, it tells you immediately which years of the index to get and which pages refer to your person.

Citing Newspapers

Print Papers

In the text, use this format: (Authors last name, page)

Example: (Snyder, A3)

In the reference list, use this format: Authors last name, Authors first name. "Article Title." Newspaper Name Day Month Year, edition: section page+

The plus sign is used if the article skips to another page.

Example: Knox, Richard A. "Please Don't Dial and Drive, Study Suggests." Boston Globe 13 Feb. 1997, late ed.: A1+.

Online Article

In the text: Use the same format as for print, except if no page is given, use either another numbering system if there is one, or no page if there is no numbering system.

In the reference list: Use the same format as for print, except:

• if no page is given, dont worry about including one
• include the date you accessed the article
• include the URL at the end. If the URL is very long, break it at a slash, and don't use a hyphen

Exercise

• Think of an event that happened after 1980 that had an impact on you. Try to find an article in Lexis Nexis Academic about this event.
  
  
• Find an article about the trials of two of the following famous murderers:
  • Charles Manson (1969)
  • Son of Sam (1978)
  • Ted Bundy (1979)
  • Dr. Sam Shepard (The Fugitive was based on this murder) (1954)