HIST 300 - Introduction to Historical Thinking
Library Research Guide
button helps you access the full text of articles. GET IT is a service that checks to see if have access to the full text of the article you are looking for.Finding Journal Articles in Search It
Search for and locate journal articles through K-State Libraries' Search It. Enter keywords related to your topic in the search box. Search It indicates when the full text of an article is available online and when a paper copy of the article is available in the Libraries. If the article is not available online or in print, request articles through Interlibrary Loan.
1. Use the drop down menu in the Search box to select Articles. Enter keywords related to topic in the Search It search box.
2. Searching for articles narrows your results to journal articles and should remove books and other types of sources from the results.
3. Click on Peer-reviewed journals under the Show Only heading on the left side of the page to limit results to journal articles, specifically from journals with articles reviewed by other scholars prior to publishing.
4. If the full text of the article is available online, Search It will state Available Online or Download PDF. Download PDF will open the article immediately. If that is not available or it does not work, click on Available Online to see your options.
5. The full record for an article will show how you can get the full text of an article through K-State Libraries. There should be one or more databases in the View Online section that you can click on for the article.
6. If an article is not available online, click the Not Available? Request from Interlibrary Loan link to request a copy.
Finding Articles in JSTOR
Click through each tab for a step-by-step guide explaining how to find articles using JSTOR.
The Databases link is located on the Libraries' homepage below the Search It box.
Search It can search many, but not all of our databases. You'll often need to search one of these subject specific databases like JSTOR, America: History and Life, or EconLit for best results.
- Find databases by name. If you know the name of the database, click on the first letter of its name. To access JSTOR, click on the letter "J".
- Find databases by subject. These are roughly organized by subject/department. For JSTOR, click on History.
Note that there are three lists of databases for History.
- History shows the top databases for primary or secondary sources.
- History: Primary Sources show the databases with primary source materials like diaries, newspapers, and films
- History: Secondary sources show the databases with secondary sources like journal articles, books, and reports
Databases are listed alphabetically. You might see a subject page with Best Bets at the top. If the database you need isn't in the Best Bets group, scroll down until you find the alphabetical list of databases for the subject.
Click on the database title to open it. You will be asked to sign in with your K-State eID and password.
JSTOR's home page include two identical search boxes and two identical links to Advanced Search. *shrug*
As of August 2024, JSTOR also includes the Artstor Image database.
Advanced Search offers options to focus your search so that you don't get 100,000 irrelevant articles.
There are many ways you can refine your search in JSTOR. You will often get an overwhelming number of results in JSTOR, so the options to narrow results can save you time.
- Each line in the search section is for a separate concept.
- I combined the terms Filipino OR Philippines in the first box because I don't know how an author might describe this community.
- Insert OR between synonyms or related terms to tell JSTOR that you will accept results with any of those words.
- Select an Access type
- Content I can access allows you to limit your results to materials K-State Libraries subscribes to and that you can access in full text immediately
- Everything allows you to see citations for all materials in JSTOR. You may need to use Interlibrary Loan to request materials K-State Libraries does not have access to.
- See the next slide for more selections you can make on the bottom of this search page.
Narrow your results in Search It
- Item Type
- Articles: removes the hundreds of book reviews that will appear otherwise.
- Reviews: shows only book reviews
- Journal Filter: limits your search to articles from journals relevant to your topic. (JSTOR's default search looks at all of the disciplines.)
- Not sure what is included in a discipline? Click the arrow to the left of the check box to reveal a list of all the journals grouped under that heading.
- You can un-check or check specific titles from this list, too.
- You can choose multiple disciplines by checking them.
- Title (of article, chapter or book)
- Author(s)
- Journal title or Book title
- Journal volume, issue, and date
- Pages
- Preview of search terms from the text
Click on the title to open the article, click on download to save it to your computer. There are also options to cite the article.
The article page contains many options to save, share, and view the article.
- Use the stable URL (has the word "stable in the URL) or DOI URL to share or save the link to the article.
- Scroll to read the full article
- Download to save article as a PDF
Additionally, many pieces of information of the page will lead you to more resources.
- Note that the journal title, issue, and author's names are all hyperlinked. Now that you know that they publish and write about a topic that is relevant to your research, see what else they've produced.
- References (imperfectly) shows the sources cited in this article. If available through JSTOR, they will be linked.
- Cited by links to other sources in JSTOR that cite this particular article (or book)
- Related text links to other articles in JSTOR on a similar topic
Finding Articles in America: History And Life
Search for academic articles about U.S. and Canadian history using America: History and Life.
America: History and Life complements JSTOR. You can access older journals in JSTOR, but you cannot access the most recent 3-5 years of articles in JSTOR. Use America: History and Life to locate more recent scholarship.
- America: History & LifePublication Dates Covered: 1964 - present Simultaneous users: 6 Paid for by K-State Libraries
Indexes and abstracts for approximately 1,800 journals in the field of United States and Canadian history. Full-text coverage for more than 280 journals and more than 80 books. Contains citations and links to book and media reviews. Can search by time period.
Only six people can be in the database at a time. Be patient and check back frequently!
Manage your search using these methods:
- Use quotation marks to force the database to search for your words exactly as you entered them:
- "USS Maine" will only find articles that mention "USS Maine," while USS Maine may find irrelevant articles talking about the state of Maine and another Navy ship.
- Select a Field to search for your keywords in specific parts of an article or record. If your keywords appear in the abstract of an article, the article is likely to actually be about your topic.
- Set the Historical Period. Tell the database what years are relevant to your research. (e.g. 1763-1780, 1939-1945) It's not perfect, but the results will be more relevant.
- Exclude Book Reviews - this option helps remove the book reviews that can clutter a search
- Peer Reviewed - select this option to only see articles from peer reviewed journals
Searching for Articles in Other History Databases
Begin at the K-State Libraries Home Page and click Databases in the Search It box.
You can find databases by:
- Title (click on the first letter of the database's name)
- Subject: History
- Searching: Enter the first part of the database name in the search box on the databases page
Choosing a database:
- Read the description of a database. Each database is unique.
- America: History and Life covers the history of the United States and Canada;
- Historical Abstracts covers world history of everywhere EXCEPT the U.S. and Canada.
- African American Newspapers provide a perspective on events that you may not encounter in newspapers and magazines organized in American Periodical Series.
- Explore databases outside of History and Primary Sources. If you are studying the history of corn, then you may find a lot of good information in an Agriculture database like Agricola.
Choosing your words:
- Use key terms or phrases, not sentences.
- Try synonyms or related terms-
- Your texts and professors are great sources of these terms.
- When you find a relevant article, look its keywords or subjects. Add those to your list of search terms.
- Think historically--if you are looking for primary sources, try to imagine what someone during that time might have said.
- The author of a New York Times article from 1916 would not have referred to World War I. Instead look for terms like:
- "The War"
- "the war in France,"
- battles (Ardennes)
- generals or world leaders (Kaiser).
- Read a few articles to get a feel for the language of the time
- The author of a New York Times article from 1916 would not have referred to World War I. Instead look for terms like:
