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I don't know if any of you use this, but I've used Questia in the past and am using it now for a paper I'm writing. I must say, it is such an awesome research tool. Basically, it is a large collection of books, articles, magazine stories, and so forth that is available online (via subscription). The great thing is that while you are reading you can search entire books/materials for specific words/phrases, highlight sections you want to use in writing, and have it automatically bookmarked so you can go back to it later. Also, if you use a section in your paper, citations are produced automatically (from a variety of styles) so you just copy and paste it into your document. If you are writing multiple papers you can “save” books and highlighting in different categories that correspond to the project you are working on. I tried Questia a few years ago at the graduate-level when I think I had four papers due in a semester. It made things so convenient for me that I got another subscription this Fall for paper/presentations, and I am really enjoying it. Combined with JSTOR, I can do much of my research online rather than going to the library (although going to the library for supplemental research is still going to be necessary with some projects).I am not sure how popular Questia has become in general, but I wish there were more databases like it to search with. Let me know if you have questions about it.
You can use dissertations online as well. Many are free for download. I have dozens including the dissertations of several of the professors that taught me at UofL and UK.
How much does a subscription cost and how long is it?
There are monthly subscriptions at about $20/month, quarterly (4-month) for I think around $40, yearly for $100, and lifetime for $400. This time around I got a few of the monthly subscriptions before realizing I just should get the yearly, so that's what I did. I was tempted to get the lifetime but wondered if it would be worth it. I think there's a free trial in case you're interested where you can try it out...and if you would want to use me as a referral for a subscription even better (I'd get a kickback ;D ).
You can use dissertations online as well. Many are free for download. I have dozens including the dissertations of several of the professors that taught me at UofL and UK.
Good point. Is there a particular source for dissertation searching? Or a particular database? I can access certain databases through my school's web site, such as JSTOR and some others. I haven't seen any dissertation databased, though.
I used ABI/Proquest over the past few semesters. It's a database of journal articles and such. I used it for papers dealing more with business and management, and I'm not sure if it also covers materials in the humanities. Also, I don't recall it having any sort of highlight or project managing tools like Questia has.Questia is strong on humanities books and such (history and the like). I suppose that's something I forgot to mention.
I will say you referred me if I use it. Will have to check the free trial (I wonder if it's full access). Do me a favor when you have time. Is there a good amount of information about Cyrus the Great? If so, that's a good sign because there isn't much info in general about him out there. I may just join for a month or two and try it out. There aren't really any good history/humanity source libraries at my school (well, except military history stuff)
I did a search for “Cyrus the Great” and here's what it came back with:Books: 407Journal Articles: 13Magazine Articles: 17Newspaper Articles: 10Encyclopedia Articles: 31 Now, some of these results might just have "Cyrus the Great" in passing, but at least it's likely that there will be some in-depth discussion of him in at least some of the results. In my experience, I have found that the journal articles aren't necessarily the greatest on Questia, but then again I normally use JSTOR to search for those anyway. But the book section is pretty good, and I haven't really looked through the magazine/newspaper/encyclopedia articles so far.And you can get a free 3-day trial to check the site out (looks like CC is required).
