Skip to Main Content

COMM / Speech Resources: Informative Speech Info

Google Scholar

Google’s academic search engine accesses a wide range of academic articles, theses, books, abstracts and court opinions, from academic publishers, professional societies, online repositories, and universities. The majority of sources retrieved by Google Scholar are usually abstracts (summaries) of articles, which do not provide the full-text of the article (or a significant charge is required for the full article). 

Try the following search in Google Scholar: 

drought OR "water shortage" "food supply" OR "food production"

Google Scholar Search

Databases for Informative Speeches

Use the following databases to find a wide range of articles (and other documents) from academic journals, popular magazines, reference sources, e-books & other sources.
On campus or off-campus w/ library card


America: History & Life with Full Text (EBSCO) *
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. America: History & Life with Full Text also provides full-text coverage of more than 200 journals and nearly 100 books.


U.S. History in Context
Contains "information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in U.S. History." More info.


World History in Context
Contains "information on hundreds of the most significant people, events and topics in World History." More info.


Biography In Context (Gale) * 
Biographies and related full-text articles from hundreds of magazines and newspapers, as well as tens of thousands of images and links to websites. Search for people-- both current and historic from all eras and fields-- based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender, as well as keyword and full text.


Gale PowerSearch Database - on campus or off-campus w/ library card
Articles from popular magazines, academic journals, newspapers and reference books; excellent set of general periodical databases. To narrow searches, combine topic concepts with AND. - PLEASE NOTE: When search results are first displayed, only magazine articles are shown, if available for your search. Click on the Academic Journals tab to display magazine articles; "Books" tab to display book articles; "News" tab to display all news articles.
Click on the link above to open a new database window.