General History Indexes
& Databases (Journal Articles)
These databases and indexes are recommended by history faculty. To get articles about a specific subject, it is best to use indexes. Indexes can be paper copies or electronic indexes. Electronic indexes are actually databases. Each will refer you to articles about a particular subject. The citation will list the title of the article and journal complete with volume and/or issue number, page numbers and date. The citation information is what you need to complete your works cited. Most of the time journal articles are secondary sources; however they can be primary sources if published within the dates of the event that you are researching. From secondary source articles you can find primary source information in the footnotes or list of publications at the end of the article. Many historians use primary sources in their scholarly articles.
Special Databases (May
contain journal articles, diaries, reports, etc.)
Can be subject specific such as: women studies, Native Americans, Presidents, biographies, etc. They may contain journal articles, but also contain other materials such as reports, diaries, proceedings of conferences, etc.
General History Indexes and Databases (Journal Articles)
JSTOR Full-text articles from the late 1800s. Used extensively
by history faculty and students. Excellent for primary source articles.
Nineteenth Century Periodicals Full-text primary
source articles from 1800 - 1900
America
History and Life Citation to articles 1964 - present. Used more for secondary
sources but can provide primary source information in article footnotes and
biblography.
Poole's Index to Periodical
Literature. Citation to articles 1802 - 1907. Primary source.
Readers' Guide to Periodical
Literature. Citations to articles 1890 - present. Can be primary or secondary
source. Features popular American magazines. Insightful to learning how people
of a certain historical period viewed the changes and events in their lives.
Project Muse Full-text
articles 1995 - present. Secondary source. Literature, culture and history journals.
Historical
Abstracts Excellent source for European or world history articles. Used
more for secondary sources but can provide primary source information in article
footnotes and bibliography. Citation to articles from 1954 - present.
Wellesley
Index to Victorian Perodicals Citations to articles 1824 - 1900. Primary
Source.
Connect to JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/jstor/
Full-text articles from the late 1800s. Most recent articles will be about 2 to 5 years old, as this index does not contain current articles. Features over 39 journals in history as well as other fields, including African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, ecology, economics, education, finance, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, and sociology.
How to effectively search JSTOR:
 |
Full Text search is the default from the basic search screen.To broaden the search you can use AND but do so cautiously, as the terms may appear far apart from one another, resulting in an unproductive search. In Advanced Search try to stay away from searching abstracts, as only a small percentage of this database has abstracts (especially for the 19th and early 20th century articles).
Author Search. In the basic search screen type au:"First Name Last Name". If you wanted to know where the author's name appeared within the body of an article or articles about the author, omit the au: and type the author's name in quotes.
Limit Searches by Journal. Select Advanced Search. A particular journal or set of journals must be designated in your search. A good strategy here may be to limit your searches by selecting one journal type at a time. For example: select only history journals first and then do the exact same word or phrase searches but choose another category of journals. Remember to document what searches you have done to avoid repetition.
Limit by Type. Select advanced search. You have four options to limit by type: articles, reviews, opinion pieces and other items. Sometimes it is advantageous to search for book reviews as they can lead you to resources that you are unaware of and in some cases, can also lead you to primary sources. Other items in this category may include announcements, bibliographies, or other non-research related items.
Limit by Date. Select Advanced Search. Can be useful in finding primary sources. Limit by year of publication limits the search field for dates of publication. Include a few extra years when searching. Make sure to fill in both boxes. For example if you need materials from 1815 to 1860, you might want to search from 1815 to 1880.
Connect to Nineteenth Century Periodicals http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/moahtml/snchome.html
Full text articles from over 20 American periodicals. This Library of Congress database allows searching or browsing the journals. When searching by keyword, always use the Search Full Text (uncorrected OCR) to bring up the maximum number of hits.
Connect to America: History and Life http://serials.abc-clio.com/active/start?_appname=serials&initialdb=AHL%20
Contains articles about the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. This database includes almost 400,000 bibliographic entries from over 2,000 journals published worldwide. Books, media reviews, and dissertations are also covered.
How to effectively search America: History and Life:
The best way to search these databases is to select Advanced Search. If you click onto the magnify glass icons to the right of all the entry boxes, you will get a comprehensive list of terms applicable for each field. If you select terms from this list, make sure and PASTE the terms to add them to your search. The maximum number of users for this database is six. If you have trouble logging on this database, try another time when it might be less busy.
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. American History articles from 1802 - 1907 . Available in paper copy in Lied Library. Call Number A13 .P72 1963
How to effectively use Poole's Index to Periodical Literature:
This index lists title of article with an abbreviated title of the journal. All journal abbreviations are listed on the front page of the index. You must look up the title of the journal in the library catalog to see if UNLV Library owns the journal. If you do not find the journal in the library catalog when you do a title search, try a keyword search. Some periodicals undergo name changes that are not reflected in the index list of titles. For example: Niles Register is listed in Poole's index yet if you search that title in the catalog you will not find it. However, if you do a keyword search in the catalog for Niles Register you will see that the library has it listed under Niles Weekly Register, Niles National Register, and Weekly Register. Do not limit the search to where the item is located and select UNLV Periodicals as some titles are available only in microforms.
Connect to Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective. Citations to articles published from 1890 - 1982. http://hwwilsonweb.com
Select Reader's Guide Retro from the databases listed at the top of the page. Limit by publication date to find primary sources.
Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Articles published from 1900 - present. This index continues coverage of the electronic database. Available in paper copy in Lied Library.
Connect to Project Muse http://muse.jhu.edu/search/search.pl
Approximately fifty online journals in various subject areas including history made available by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Users may elect to search individual titles, multiple titles, or all titles contained in the collection.
Connect to Historical Abstracts http://serials.abc-clio.com/active/start?_appname=serials&initialdb=AHL%20
Covers the history of the world from 1450 to the present, excluding the United States and Canada. Articles from over 2,000 journals are indexed and annotated, and the database includes over half a million entries in all. A select 3,000 books are also listed in addition to dissertations
How to effectively search Historical Abstracts:
The best way to search these databases is to select Advanced Search. If you click onto the magnify glass icons to the right of all the entry boxes, you will get a comprehensive list of terms applicable for each field. If you select terms from this list, make sure and PASTE the terms to add them to your search. The maximum number of users for this database is six. If you have trouble logging on to this database, try another time when it might be less busy.
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals
British journal articles from 1824 - 1900 . Available in paper copy in Lied Library. Call Number A13 .W45
Specialty Databases (May contain journal articles, diaries, reports, etc.)
History Resource Center http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/unlv_main?db=HistRC
Godey's Lady's Book http://www.accessible.com/search/prdcls.asp?s=112324789
Primary source full text journal about American women's issues from the mid
1800s.
North American Women's
Letters and Diaries http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/NWLDlive
Primary source full-text copies of diaries, journals, and letters. Colonial
- 1950
Biography Resource
Center http://www.galenet.com/servlet/BioRC?locID=las26807
Secondary source full-text biographies and articles on more than 320,000 people
throughout history and around the world.
Presidential Studies http://cisweb.lexis-nexis.com/histuniv/
Full-text primary and secondary sources about U.S. Presidents George Washington
to William Clinton.
African American Studies
History Universe http://cisweb.lexis-nexis.com/histuniv/
Full-text primary and secondary source material relating to the African American
experience.
American Slavery A
Composite Biography http://gw2.scbbs.com/as/start.jsp
Slave narratives collected by the WPA Federal Writers' Project between 1936 and 1938.
Bibliography of Native
Americans (WebSPIRS) http://tinyurl.com/7xn8n
Over 70,000 citations to primary and secondary source material from 1500 - present
about Native Americans in U.S. and Canada.
Chicano Database http://www.library.unlv.edu/search/databases/index.html
#C
Early 1900s to present. Citations to articles relating to the Mexican-American
experience. Extensive coverage from the 1960s and selective coverage back to
the 1900s.
Civil War: A Newspaper
Perspective http://www.accessible.com/search/prdcls.asp?s=953020609
Selected full-text articles from over 2500 issues of the New York Herald, the Charleston Mercury and Richmond Enquirer published from November, 1860 - Mid-April 1865.
