LibGuides: HIS 535 Nationailsm and Democracy, 1815-1914: Secondary sources

Finding scholarly journal articles

When I look for scholarly journal articles on history topics, this is the order I follow.

1) Historical Abstracts

Historical Abstract and its cousin for American history (America: History and Life) pull articles from thousands of journals. If you haven't used it before, the videos below will help you understand how to set up a search and use limiters.

Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present. History of the United States and Canada are covered in America: History and Life
For more help, watch the library's tutorials for Historical Abstracts AND America: History and Life on:
- Using limiters
- Using advanced search

2) JSTOR

JSTOR is my second stop, because it doesn't include nearly as many journals as Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life. What is very useful about JSTOR is that you can search the full text of every article-- so it is great if you are looking for source that addresses a specific person, place, or thing. It also is interdisciplinary, including both history journals and journals from many other fields of study.

JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Full text scholarly journal articles in Arts & Sciences, Biological Sciences, Business, Health, and General Sciences.

3) Library Search

Library Search = the search box on the library homepage. It cross-searches dozens of databases, allowing for an extremely broad, interdisciplinary search. Click on the "Expand results beyond my library" option for an even more comprehensive search.

Finding books

You can find books via the search box on library homepage.

Step 1: Enter your search terms and use the pulldown menu labeled "All Items" to select "Books".

Step 2: You will see results for both ebooks and physical books. Links to full text and/or location information are located under each title. If you forgot to limit to books, you can still do it on this page right under the search box.

Step 3: Want to see books that WCU libraries don't own, but could get for you? At the top of the left-hand column, click on "Expand results beyond my library." When you see "No full text" under an entry, click it to see options for requesting it from another library (you will need to log in to do so).