U.S. History Online Databases
Note 1: For primary sources, please see the primary sources page!
Note 2: Depending on what your subject is, these may or may not be good choices for your search! Please check with library staff for database suggestions and search tips. One good option is to browse through resources on the indexes and abstracts tab of the University Library's Online Research Resources page.
America: History and Life
Identifies articles on U.S. and Canadian history. Includes magazine and journal articles, book reviews, dissertations, and media reviews. Does NOT include full text. Once you find a promising citation, click on the blue rectangular “Discover” link that connects you to full text that may be available through another one of our database services. Otherwise, find locations of periodicals in the University Library by using the online catalog (and searching by “Start of Journal/Magazine Title”) or try your luck with the online research resources journal and newspaper search.
Some tips: Use the Advanced Search and select “United States and Canadian History” from the pull-down menu. Note the multiple search options that are available. It's a good idea to limit your search to articles and collections (chapters in books) when starting out.
JSTOR
Older, full text articles from more than 100 journals in areas including African American studies, anthropology, business, economics, education, finance, history, literature, management, philosophy, political science, sociology. Most include full texts of complete journals from their inception up to a “moving wall,” which is a fixed period of time ranging, in most cases, from 2 to 5 years, that defines the gap between the most recently published issue and the date of the most recent issues available in JSTOR. The
Library will, in many cases, have a separate subscription for the more recent issues.
Project Muse searches full-text in over 150 journals supplied by 10 university presses. Click on the search button to start your search. Muse works well for more recent periodical issues, while JSTOR (see above) reproduces older volumes.
Sociological Abstracts
Identifies articles, conference papers, books and dissertations in sociology and related fields in social and behavioral sciences. Great database for research on historical events that have socio-cultural implications. Note: NOT a full-text database.
Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS)
Identifies articles, books, websites, statistics, yearbooks, directories, conference proceedings, pamphlets, reports, government documents, and microfiches on political, social, public policy issues. Again, NOT full-text, but PAIS includes a huge amount of unique material. For best results, use the advanced search.
Lexis-Nexis
For recent (and even not-so-recent) newspaper articles, Lexis-Nexis can be a great place to search. Choose the “guided news search” option, select “general news” under step one, and then “major papers” under step two. Then enter your search terms and start searching. Note that you can restrict your search by date range. This can allow you to get different perspectives on an issue (e.g., the perspective of people at the time vs. that of people one or more years later). Some newspapers in Lexis-Nexis go back to the 1800s.