History - Graduate Studies Workshop: Library & Internet Resources

Professor: Richard Horowitz
Librarian: Lynn Lampert

The following library and Internet resources are geared toward the research needs of CSUN Graduate Students studying History. Choosing the best resources to use for your assignment involves several factors.

Books- How to locate a book on your selected topic.

Books may be searched in the Library Catalog by author, title, Library of Congress Subject Heading, or keyword. For books not held by the Oviatt Library, request an Interlibrary Loan, but allow about 2 weeks.

If you are searching for background information about a historical event, person, historiographical arguement or issue etc., you will need to think about how to search for this information.

What words can you use to describe your topic?
Your topic itself may prove to be the words that make up your search term. This will most likely lead you to conduct a keyword search.

Keyword vs. Subject Searching

For example: If my topic was footbinding in China - I may try entering the keywords footbinding AND China in a keyword search. The AND is a boolean operator combining my search terms "footbinding" and "China".

A keyword search of the Library Catalog will return the following book:

To search for materials from other libraries, search the WorldCat database.

Locating Periodicals

How to Locate Articles Online or in the Library

Periodical Indexes/Databases

Periodicals (magazines, newspapers, trade publications, and scholarly journals) are excellent sources of current and/or specific information for research projects.
It's a good idea to formulate a search strategy before using a periodical database.
The following databases use Boolean Logic (AND, OR, NOT) and truncation/wildcards symbols (*, ?, etc.) for combining keywords and phrases to locate articles on specific topics.
For a complete list of available databases, see Databases A-Z.
FYI, you can also connect to the Library's databases and full-text periodicals from off campus

For the purposes of your assignment you will need to access the following databases:

America History & Life 1974-

America: History and Life covers more than 2100 journals, in approximately 40 languages, providing scholarly literature in history. The database also includes article abstracts and citations of reviews and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present.

Historical Abstracts 1974-

Historical Abstracts is the most important index to scholarly literature on world history (excluding the U.S. and Canada). It provides access to over 500,000 articles, books and disserations concerning the period from 1450 to the present day. Historical Abstracts covers all types of history: political, economic, social, religious, scientific, etc. It also covers the historiographical and methodological concerns of historians. Articles in Historical Abstracts derive from over 2,100 scholarly journals published in more than 50 languages since 1974.

JSTOR

JSTOR is a very important database that provides full-text articles in major scholarly journals.

ProQuest Newspapers

Full text for 500+ U.S. and international news sources. Includes coverage of 150+ major U.S. newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune, plus hundreds of other news sources and news wires. Click the More Search Options link from the main search screen to reveal choices for limiting by Document Type, such as editorial, speech, and review.

Note: You may also find these databases to be helpful in working to complete your research assignment.

Academic Search Elite (EBSCOHost)

Provides full text for nearly 1,850 periodicals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to the full text, indexing and abstracts are provided for all 3,237 periodicals in the collection. This database offers information in nearly every area of academic study, including communication studies. Allows limiting search results to peer-reviewed scholarly journals.

Book Review Digest Plus

Book Review Digest Plus indexes around periodicals which include reviews of English language fiction and nonfiction books. The database can be searched by subject, title, author, etc. The records do not indicate whether the review is favorable or unfavorable, but some records do include abstracts which may give you an idea of the opinion of the reviewer. It should be noted that the majority of the reviews indexed do not come from scholarly, academic journals. A complete list of the indexed journals is available from the link above.

General Reference Center Gold (Gale)

A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources in one easy-to-use interface. Use General Reference Center Gold to find articles from newspapers, reference books, and periodicals, many with full-text and images.

InfoTrac OneFile (Gale)

From arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access over 9,000 scholarly journals, and general interest news magazines and newspapers - over half contain full text and images. Browse subjects using the Subject Guide or search keywords using the Advanced Search. Coverage is from 1980 to the present. Allows limiting search results to ("refereed") scholarly journals.

MetaSearch

MetaSearch allows you to: Determine which Library databases are recommended for Communication Studies and other subjects; link to librarians' guides to doing research in particular subject areas; search one to eight Library databases using a common interface; simultaneously search across different databases for interdisciplinary topics and/or resources in various formats (e.g., journals, books, newspapers, etc.); search for electronic journals by title; and create a personalized list of your favorite databases and e-journals.

Finding Book Reviews

JSTOR, America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, Book Review Digest and Academic Search Elite all include Book Reviews. Limit your search to the “Reviews” or “Book Reviews” choice to find them. Other sources for Book Reviews include: Book Review Digest Plus and H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences: http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/ .

Note JSTOR covers from the beginning of the journal (earliest is 1665) up to within three to five years of the present [the "moving wall"]. It is a database rich in book reviews and review journals for specific subjects and disciplines, JSTOR is a fully-searchable, full-text database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business, and other fields. List of journals included and years covered. To find book reviews: in the REFINE YOUR SEARCH box at the bottom of the search page, check the reviews box in the "Limit by Type" line.

Print Indexes for Book Reviews also are available in the Reference Room. They include the Book Review Index Plus

Internet

In addition to the databases and Web sites listed above, the Internet can be a valuable source of information. However, remember to think critically about the authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage of the information you find.

Internet Search Engines - (links to favorite search engines of CSUN librarians)
SearchEngineWatch - (comprehensive directory of search engines by type)
Evaluating Web Pages

Archive and Primary Source Materials

A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts in the United States, Philip M. Hamer, ed. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1961. Location: Reference Room CD3022 .A45
Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States., Phoenix : Oryx Press, 1988.

Guide to ethnic museums, libraries, and archives in the United States / by Lubomyr R. Wynar and Lois Buttlar. Location:Second Floor E184.A1 W95
Repositories of Primary Sources http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html

Online Archive of California http://www.oac.cdlib.org/
The OAC brings together historical materials from a variety of California institutions, including museums, historical societies, and archives. Over 120,000 images; 50,000 pages of documents, letters, and oral histories; and 8,000 guides to collections are available.

Citation Style Guides

MLA, APA, & Other Citation Style Guides

Avoiding Plagiarism

Why Cite? Avoiding Plagiarism

Prepared by Lynn Lampert, Social Sciences Librarian