Electronic Library for Minnesota
ELM helps you find articles from magazines, newspapers, and encyclopedias, plus pictures, videos, maps, and information on all subjects.
Choose the grade level below to find resources to help you with your homework.
Need help in learning how to use specific ELM resources? The ELM Learning Center has videos, activities, and more to help you use the ELM databases more effectively.
You can also check out these brief videos:
Or watch these help videos on our YouTube Channel and add them to your playlist or share them with others.
Need help finding articles for a paper? Have a question about a homework assignment? Ask a librarian. AskMN is an online service that will connect you with a librarian instantly. Get links to helpful resources, information on search strategies, and much more.
If you are researching information on your History Day topic, you've come to the right place. ELM resources can help you get started with your research and enrich your project with images, videos, quotes, primary sources, and more.
Here's a list of ELM resources that we recommend researching. Find these and more on the History Day content type page:
For more help on your History Day research, check out our tutorial, History Day Research in Minnesota.
If you are researching information on your STEM topic, you've come to the right place. ELM resources can help you get started with your research and enrich your project with images, videos, articles, science experiments, and more.
Here's a list of ELM resources that we recommend researching. Find these and more on the STEM content type page:
How do I get started on my research project? How do I choose a topic? Where do I find primary resources? The Research Project Calculator helps you answer these questions and makes the research process easier. It breaks your project down into 5 basic steps to help you finish your project on time.
ELM is a collection of library databases that contain thousands of magazines, encyclopedias, and newspapers. You can trust this information more than most of what you'll find on Google because it has all gone through a professional publishing process. Use library databases, like those in ELM, to make better research projects, do better on homework assignments, and get better grades.
The topic you choose to research should fit your assignment, be something of interest to you, and be specific rather than general.
As you're choosing your topic, find background information to help narrow your focus and to understand the context. Good sources for background information on many topics are two library databases called Encyclopedia Britannica and Student Resources in Context. Find these and more on the General Reference subject page.
When you have a topic in mind and an understanding of the background and context to that topic, you might want to get more specific with your research by looking for particular types of sources. Here's a place to get started.
For help creating a search strategy that will return reliable resources check out these tutorials:
Secondary sources are typically written after the time period or event in question and by a person who was not there. There are several types of secondary sources:
Primary sources provide direct insight into historical topics. They are created by people directly involved in an historic event. These might include letters, postcards, legal documents, government publications, images, and newspaper articles. There are lots of great places to find primary sources online.
When you conduct research, it's essential that you record the sources from which you've obtained your information. Check out our tutorial, "How To Cite Your Sources."
Tell us your story about how you have used the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) resources in your classes, for your homework, for your personal interests, or in other ways you have found ELM resources to be useful.
We compile the ELM stories and share them to inform legislators, administrators, and others about the importance of ELM resources for Minnesotans and to demonstrate the many ways ELM is used by people throughout the state.
We welcome your ideas, comments, and suggestions. Your input will help us in serving you better.