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.
Library Gateway
The Library Gateway defaults to an Easy Search. Click on More Options next to the Go button to select which sources you would like to search. Click on What am I Searching? to see a list of sources included in each category. The most beneficial searches for you would include Multi-Subject Resources, Arts & Humanities (includes history databases) and/or Social Sciences. Type your keywords in the box and click search. Note the link to Search Tips underneath the search box. You will retrieve results in the variety of sources you selected. Therefore, you can search many databases all at once!
Also on the Library's main page are links to digital collections underneath the Library Initiatives heading in the right toolbar. If your topic has anything to do with Illinois, check out the Illinois Harvest database.
America: History and Life
Identifies articles on U.S. and Canadian history. Includes magazine and journal articles, book reviews, dissertations, and media reviews. Only includes some full text! It an item you are interested in does not include the full text, 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.
Note the multiple search options that are available. It's a good idea to limit your search by publication type and language when starting out (unless you really want to read lots of dissertations and/or your Bulgarian/Russian/German is really, really good).
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.
LexisNexis
Full-text access to hundreds of recent (and even not-so-recent) newspaper and magazine articles. Type in your search terms in the center search box, using and to narrow and or to broaden; put quotation marks around unique phrases. The default search is set to Major U.S. and World Publications for the Previous 2 years, which can be changed to suit your needs. After you click search, notice that you can narrow your search by clicking on the categories in the left toolbar. Click on the plus sign to expand your options and click on the blue link to narrow your search.
Google Scholar
This link takes you to the Advanced Search page where you can search by keywords or phrases, author, publication, date, and limit to a particular subject area. Google Scholar includes peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.