AMER STD 191: American Studies Thesis

Search an article database to find citations (title, author, title of journal, date, page numbers) for articles on a particular topic.  The Library gives you access to over 200 article databases covering different disciplines.

1.  Think about which academic disciplines might write about your topic.  Examples:  literature, film, anthropology, history...

2.  Find the appropriate article database by subject (academic discipline or department).  Look for "Recommended" databases.

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject

Sample searches in CSA Illumina Social Science databases:

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > Sociology > Sociology Abstracts:  click on the CSA Illumina Social Sciences link to search multiple social science databases

1.  Example of a search using multiple terms, phrase searching, alternative terms, truncation,etc

african american* or black* (keywords)
single parent* or single mother* or single father* (keywords)

keywords = searches most important parts of the record

* = truncation symbol or wildcard;  child* = child, childs, children, childish, childhood

2.  use an official subject term ("descriptor")

 african american* or black* (descriptor)
single parent* or single mother* or single father* (keywords) 

3.  use unique terms, use official subject terms ("descriptors"); broaden your search by taking out a term

prison* or jail* or incarcerat* (keywords)
slang  (keywords)

4.  look through your search results for additional useful terms

cannabis or marijuana (keywords)
decriminalization (keywords)

note other potential search terms such as:  policy  legalization  marijuana laws   etc.

5.  to find more results, especially when the topic is too new for academic journal articles:  broaden your terms

sb 1070 (keywords)

broaden your terms:

arizona (keywords)
immigra*   (keywords)

Sample searches in America:  History and Life:

Library home > Articles > Article Databases by Subject > History > America:  History and Life

african american* or black*  (select a field )
film* or cinema or movie* (select a field))

historical period from:  1960   to   1980

• click on the title to see full record (including abstracts and descriptors)
• to limit by publication type (peer-reviewed journals, conferences, books, etc.) click on the appropriate tab or link
• if necessary,look for other limits (latest update, journal articles only, english only) and more advanced searches
• select records to save to your personalized list; lists may be e-mailed, downloaded, printed