Research Guides: American History and American Studies: Finding Articles

Start out with

America, history and life with full text
Index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. The database indexes journals from 1964 to present and includes citations and links to book and media reviews.

► If your research extends beyond the United States and Canada, you may want to search America History and Life simultaneously with Historical Abstracts, which is international in scope. To do this, select the "Choose Databases" link to the right of America History and Life in your Search Screen.

Then select Historical Abstracts from the "Choose Databases" menu that appears; and then select "OK."

Historical abstracts with full text
Covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, and history of education. Provides selective indexing of historical articles from more than 1,800 journals in over 40 languages back to 1955 as well as the full text of more than 300 journals and over 130 books.

►If your research is interdisciplinary in nature, you may wish to start out directly with EBSCOhost Research Databases, which includes both America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts, along with a wide range of databases in the humanities. law, social sciences, and other areas. For a fuller description of EBSCOHOST Research Databases, see box below.

Search across Many Databases at Once

EBSCOhost research databases.
⇔SEARCHES ACROSS MANY DATABASES AT ONCE⇔
Allows you to search simultaneously across more than one hundred databases in a wide range of subject areas. Includes major access points for current and recent journal articles such as: Humanities Full Text; General Science Full Text; and Social Sciences Full Text. Also includes a number of more specialized resources such as Africa-Wide Information; Alternative Press Index; and Gender Studies Database. A substantial range of ebooks is also searchable here, as well as a series of historical magazines archives that provides cover-to-cover, full image access for major American magazines such as Business Week, Ebony, Life, Time, and Sports Illustrated.
ProQuest.
⇔SEARCHES ACROSS MANY DATABASES AT ONCE⇔
Allows you to search simultaneously across more than one hundred databases in a wide range of subject areas, such as: news and world affairs; humanities; education; social sciences; literature; women's studies; business and economics; health and medical; science and technology; psychology; and law. Most of the content covered here is accessible in full text. Along with academic journals, ProQuest provides access to a wide range of newspapers, magazines, and trade publications. The span of articles covered stretches back as far as the 17th century and up to the present day.

Other Key Sources for Articles Relevant to American History, Culture, or Current Events

Access world news / Newsbank Inc.
Access World News is a comprehensive resource that includes a variety of news publications worldwide. These sources include major national and international newspapers, as well as local and regional titles as well as newswires, blogs, web-only content, videos, journals, magazines, transcripts and more. Access World News is updated daily. This database combines news articles from more than 12,000 sources and over 200 countries. Much of the material in non-English languages has been translated into English, but a significant amount of material is presented in the original language.
ABI/INFORM global
Search 1800 premier worldwide business periodicals for information on advertising, marketing, economics, management techniques, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Includes the Wall Street Journal.
Alt-PressWatch
Full text database of selected newspapers, magazines, journals of the alternative and independent press. Includes titles such as Anarcho-Syndicalist Review, Chicago Reader, Dissent, Off Our Backs, Poverty and Race.
Indigenous newspapers in North America
Indigenous Newspapers in North America presents the publications of a range of communities, with an extensive list of periodicals produced in the United States and Canada, including Alaska, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Nevada and Oklahoma, from 1828 to 2016. Representing a huge variety in style, production and audience, the newspapers include national periodicals as well as local community news and student publications. This digital collection provides exciting research opportunities into a range of subjects from an Indigenous perspective, including the civil rights era and American Indian Movement (AIM), education, environmentalism, land rights and cultural representation. This resource has been developed with, and has only been made possible by, the permission and contribution of the newspaper publishers and Tribal Councils concerned.
ATLA religion database with ATLASerials
ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials combines the index to journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion with ATLA's online collection of major religion and theology journals. Coverage begins in 1949 with some earlier indexing. Full text for many citations. Produced by the American Theological Library Association.
Black Life in America : the experience and impact of African Americans as recorded by the news media.
From the early days of slavery to modern times, people of African descent have had a profound impact on American history. This primary source collection offers an expansive window into centuries of African American history, culture and daily life--as well as the ways the dominant culture has portrayed and perceived people of African descent via Black-owned newspapers and mainstream publications.
Black studies center
Black Studies Center combines three invaluable resources for research and teaching in Black Studies: Schomburg Studies on the Black Experience, International Index of Black Periodicals (IIBP), and The Chicago Defender. This fully cross-searchable gateway to Black Studies includes scholarly essays, recent periodicals, historical newspaper articles, and much more.
Book review digest plus (H.W. Wilson)
Book Review Digest Plus is an essential library tool that brings together book reviews on a wide range of topics, from a variety of sources. Unlike reviews on book-sale sites and the open Internet, many of the reviews are serious, academic works. This invaluable resource for literary and biographical research is essential for readers' advisory and collection development.
Chicano database
A comprehensive bibliographic index representing all types of material for information about Mexican-American topics. Provides extensive coverage from the 1960s to the present, with selective coverage dating back to the early 1900s. Records added since 1992 have expanded this database's scope to include the broader Latino experience, including Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central American immigrants. The Chicano Database also includes the Spanish Speaking Mental Health Database, covering psychological, sociological, and educational literature.
Education research complete
"Education Research Complete is the definitive online resource for education research. This massive file offers the world's largest and most complete collection of full text education journals. Education Research Complete also covers areas of curriculum instruction as well as administration, policy, funding, and related social issues"--Database description screen.
Ethnic newsWatch
Full text articles from newspapers and periodicals published by the ethnic, minority and native press in the U.S. Coverage is from 1960 to date.
Factiva
Factiva provides access to global news and business information, including local newspapers, same-day newswires, company reports, and media programs. Provides company information including market data and competitors.
Gender studies database
Combines NISC's Women's Studies International and Men's Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues. Also includes relevant contributions from NISC's Child Development & Adolescent Studies as well as Family & Society Studies Worldwide databases. Source documents include professional journals, conference papers, books, book chapters, government reports, discussion and working papers, theses & dissertations and other sources. Also includes links to selected and websites."Gender Studies Database, produced by NISC, combines NISC's popular Women's Studies International and Men's Studies databases with the coverage of sexual diversity issues. GSD covers the full spectrum of gender-engaged scholarship inside and outside academia."
HAPI online
Citations to articles and book reviews in scholarly journals published in Latin America and the Caribbean, or those dealing with topics relating to Latin America, the Caribbean and Hispanic Americans. Subject focus excludes pure and technical sciences. Links to full-text are available for selected journals.
Humanities full text (H.W. Wilson)
Humanities full text brings full text (starting 1995) plus abstracts and bibliographic indexes (starting 1984) of noted scholarly sources in the humanities, as well as lesser known specialized magazines. The database indexes, abstracts and delivers the full text of feature articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction, drama, and poetry, book reviews, and reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, operas, plays, radio and television programs.
International bibliography of periodical literature : IBZ.
Universal index of periodical literature covering basic research from all fields of knowledge, and is particularly strong in the humanities and the social sciences. Over 11,000 periodicals are indexed by this multilingual database, now containing over 1.7 million records. It is international in scope, and indexes a significant proportion the the periodicals published on the European continent.
Index to legal periodicals & books. Access via World-Wide Web (Columbia University campus-wide access)
Index to Legal Periodicals & Books covers all areas of jurisprudence, including recent court decisions, new legislation, and original scholarship.
JSTOR.
Provides page images of back issues of the core scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Users may browse by journal title or discipline, or may search the full-text or citations/abstracts. New issues of existing titles and new titles are added on an ongoing basis.
LGBTQ+ source.
This database provides full-text coverage for the most important literature regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Offering a variety of scholarly, popular and regional resources, it includes journals, books, magazines and more. It also includes a specialized LGBTQ+ thesaurus containing thousands of terms.
LGBT magazine archive.
A searchable archive of major periodicals devoted to LGBT+ interests, dating from the 1950s through to recent years. "Launching in September 2018, LGBT Magazine Archive will comprise archival runs of 26 of the most influential, long-running 20th/21st-century magazines in this field, amounting to approximately 400,000 pages of content.... Coverage is from the first issue of each publication, with the earliest content dating from 1957 and the default termination point for each title is 2015 (or the journal ceased date). Each issue is scanned from cover to cover in full color"--ProQuest.libguides.com, viewed October 2, 2018.
Nexis Uni.
An interdisciplinary, full-text database of over 18,000 sources including newspapers, journals, wire services, newsletters, company reports and SEC filings, case law, government documents, transcripts of broadcasts, and selected reference works.
PAIS Index
Indexes articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories in the area of public affairs. Topics include business, government, international relations, banking, environment, health, social sciences, demographics, law and legislation, political science, public administration, finance, agriculture, education, and statistics.
Project Muse.
Full-text versions of peer-reviewed journals from many of the world's leading university presses and scholarly societies, as well as thousands of ebooks, with emphasis on humanities and social sciences.
Race relations abstracts
"Race Relations Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to race relations, including ethnic studies, discrimination, immigration studies, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. Records are selected from many of the top titles within the discipline, including Race, Ethnicity & Education and Ethnic & Racial Studies."--About the database.
Readers' guide full text
Abstracts of articles from popular periodicals published in the U.S. and Canada. Includes current events and news, fine art, fashion, education, business, sports, health and nutrition, consumer affairs, and more.Readers' Guide Full Text is a database containing comprehensive indexing and abstracting of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States and Canada, plus the full text of selected periodicals. Indexes begin with 1983, abstracts in 1984, and full text in 1994.
Social sciences full text (H.W. Wilson)
Social sciences full text covers concepts, trends, opinions, theories, and methods from both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences. More than 350 key international, English-language periodicals. Indexing of periodicals provided from 1983-current, full text coverage starting 1995.
Worldwide political science abstracts
The database provides access to citations and abstracts of journal articles appearing political science journals. Years of Coverage: 1975 to the present.

General Search Tools

CLIO : Articles Search
Searches a large database of mostly full-text journals, encyclopedia and newspaper articles; this database also includes e-books and government documents. Newspaper articles are excluded from the initial search results. To include them, click the 'x' next to "Not Content Type: Newspaper Articles" above the search results.

Google scholar
"Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research."--About Google scholar.