Tips for Finding Sources on Current Events & Breaking News Stories

It's really just like it sounds, a breaking or developing news story is an event that is happening now. Sometimes these stories will break and end within a few days, but some can continue to develop over weeks, months or even years.

Currently developing and breaking news stories are challenging to research because there simply has not been enough time to write much about them. There will be no books or scholarly articles on a developing news story. But if you use this two step technique you should be able find enough sources for your paper.

1. Find the News Sources

While you won't find books or scholarly articles, you will be able to find news sources about developing stories. This is where you'll find specific details about the developing news stories. The details available will change with the least known immediately following the event and more becoming known as journalists investigate.

For instance, shortly after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida even few news articles were available. But as the story developed, more became about the event, the shooter and the victims.

2. Supplement with Broader Sources

Once you've found news articles on the developing story you can supplement with broader sources.

For instance, using the Parkland shooting again as an example, you could supplement your news articles on the actual shooting with books and scholarly articles on gun control, mass shootings, school safety and the second amendment.

Use these databases when you want to use a very current or developing news story as your paper topic. You can even grab your citation right from the database! NewsBank is the best database for the most recent news stories.

You can supplement your sources with broader sources using these databases with articles from multiple sources, including scholarly and peer reviewed, as well as eBooks.