Why Nexis Uni Sets the Standard for Academic Research

Whenever students are assigned a research project—be it a paper, presentation, or something else—there are some basic steps to take. Your own library guide probably has some version of a checklist for kicking off research. The tips usually cover selecting a topic, conducting research, citing sources, and proofreading, to name a few. Nexis Uni® makes the entire process easier. While the intuitive search and collaboration features offer students benefits on their own, it’s the content that really moves Nexis Uni to the head of the class as a research platform. What makes the content universe of Nexis Uni so compelling? Read on to find out!  

1. Nexis Uni content helps students with topic choice 

When it’s time to select a topic, doing a preliminary search of information sources enables students to quickly decide how much information is available on a particular topic. This can be especially useful in choosing a direction for the research. Too much information? Maybe the topic needs to be approached from a different, narrower angle. Too little information? Perhaps going broader will help.  

In addition to understanding the volume of information available, the variety of source types in Nexis Uni enables students to explore topics from a variety of perspectives before coming up with a thesis statement.   

Take a topic related to a social issue like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). With Nexis Uni, students can:  

• Focus on current and archival news to research how news coverage or public opinion has evolved over time 
• Look at company information to understand to what level companies are prioritizing DEI and their reasons for doing so 
• Review legal cases to see what precedents have been established and find trends of interest

• Search regulatory information to figure out what government agencies are doing to support DEI 
• Examine biographical sources to get background on DEI thought leaders  

By having both content volume and variety at their fingertips, students can quickly home in on a topic and a unique viewpoint for research projects.  

2. Nexis Uni content supports media literacy 

The explosion of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news in recent years has highlighted the importance of media literacy. With a vast collection of sources at their fingertips, students can evaluate each source for:  

• Authority—Nexis Uni aggregates content from publishers worldwide and keeps critical source data, making it easier to distinguish if a source may be biased—liberal or conservative, for instance—or if the source is more neutral. Understanding the qualifications or affiliations of a publisher or author helps ensure better results. If, for example, the topic is related to politics, having access to numerous sources gives the researcher multiple points of view for a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.  
• Accuracy—While Nexis Uni can’t control the accuracy of content published, the breadth and depth of our content universe ensures students can cross-check findings to substantiate them. Being able to spot outliers offering questionable narratives or validate findings across multiple sources helps build confidence in research accuracy.  
• Currency—New content is always being added to Nexis Uni. Because of this, students can be sure that they have fresh information—backed up by an archive that goes back 45+ years. And since Nexis Uni allows search refinements by publication date, students can target specific time periods for research sources to tap the most current information available.  

Whether your students are undertaking research for Marketing, Journalism, Political Science, Finance, Health Science, or Law, having an immense and diverse content collection—all in one place—ensures they can capture the big picture AND the small details for their next research projects.  

Check out our Nexis Uni Content Advantage eBook for more details on the different content types available.