KEAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
KEAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
GUIDE
United States History Research Resources
Located in the heart of the Kean University campus, the Nancy Thompson Library houses the Library’s traditional print collections.
Print Book Collections
The Reference Collection is an important part of the Library’s holdings. Subject encyclopedias in the Reference Collection are good sources of background information on topics within specific subject areas. Reference books are full of topic ideas, as well as ideas for narrowing broad topics. The following titles are examples of subject encyclopedias you can find in the Reference Collection:
Call Numbers Reference Titles
Ref DS 115.2 .J49 1998 Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia
Ref E 169.12 .F498 2005 Fifties in America
Ref E 174 .R67 2003 Penguin Encyclopedia of American History
Ref E 176 .A513 2005 American Political Leaders, 1789-2005
Ref E 176.1 .R295 2000 Reader’s Companion to the American Presidency
Ref E 184 .S75 O97 2005 Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States
Ref E 185 .A79 1998 The African-American Atlas: Black History and Culture
Ref E 185 .E54 1996 Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History
Ref E 188 .P86 1999 Colonial America to 1763
Ref E 450 .S74 2002 New Jersey’s Underground Railroad Heritage: “Steal Away, Steal Away”
Ref HQ 1410 .C85 2000 Encyclopedia of Women’s History in America
Ref JK 511 .E53 1994 Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
Ref JK 518 .R34 1996 Vital Statistics on the Presidency: Washington to Clinton
Ref JV 6450 .I565 2006 Immigration in U.S. History
Ref NX 512.3 .A35 E53 2004 Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Ref PN 1995.9 .U64 C65 2003 Columbia Companion to American History on film
Reference books are located on the first floor of the Library, while books from the Main Collection are located on the second and third floors. All books are shelved in alphanumeric order by call number. You can find Reference books and Main Collection books on your research topics by using the Books, E-books, Videos & More section of the Library’s homepage ().
Periodicals
The Library subscribes to nearly 30,000 full-text periodicals, many available in full-text online format. Check the Periodicals List available from the Library’s homepage () for information about specific journal, magazine, and newspaper title holdings.
Research Databases
You can find information fast using the Library’s research databases available from the Articles & More section of the Library’s homepage (). You can start searching a few of these select research databases by reading the brief descriptions and using the directions that follow:
Gale Virtual Reference To search Gale Virtual Reference Library for encyclopedia and other reference
Library book articles using your key terms:
✓ Click the letter G on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click Gale Virtual Reference Library (Thomson GALE).
✓ Click Proceed.
✓ Type your key terms in the Basic Search box next to the word Find: For instance, type: Harlem Renaissance
✓ Click Search.
✓ Result: The first 20 retrieved article titles will be displayed. Examine retrieved items. Click either the Full-text, Full-text with Graphics, or PDF Pages link immediately below the item to view the full-text article.
✓ E-mail the article you are viewing by clicking E-mail at the top of the Full-text or Full-text with Graphics screen.
Facts on File Online To search for articles in one or more of the Facts on File Online Databases, Databases including African-American History Online, American History Online, American Indian History Online, American Women’s History Online, Ancient and Medieval History Online, or Modern World History Online:
✓ Click the letter F on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click Facts on File Online Databases.
✓ Click the desired database from the Available Databases list.
✓ Select options from the Browse menu on the left, or type your search terms in the Search box toward the top right corner of the screen, then click Go.
✓ Search across multiple history databases by clicking Search Other History Databases in the top right corner of the screen.
✓ Click the checkbox to the left of more than one of the databases listed, then type your search terms in the Search box and click Go.
Biography Reference Bank To search Biography Reference Bank for biographical information:
✓ Click the letter B on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click Biography Reference Bank (WilsonWeb).
✓ Type a person’s name in the boxes adjacent to Search For: For instance, type:
Crispus Attucks
✓ Click Start.
✓ Click the person’s name to access a list of biographies.
✓ Click results listed next to Resource Links to access full-text biographies of the person.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by clicking the blue Print Email Save button located on the left-hand side of your screen.
Britannica Online To search Britannica Online for wide-ranging articles from Encyclopaedia Britannica:
✓ Click the letter B on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click Britannica Online.
✓ Type your search terms in the box labeled Search. For instance, type:
Clinton and impeachment
✓ Click Go.
✓ Click the title for any document in the search results list to access the full-text article.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by clicking the blue Email Article button located on the right-hand side of your screen.
World Book Online To search World Book Online for wide-ranging articles from World Book Reference Center Encyclopedia:
✓ Click the letter W on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click World Book Online Reference Center.
✓ Type your search terms in the box labeled Search World Book. For instance, type:
Ronald Reagan
✓ Click Go.
✓ Click the title for any document in the search results list to access the full-text article.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by clicking the blue E-mail article link in the box labeled Tools located on the top left-hand side of your screen.
America: History and Life To search America: History and Life for scholarly articles using your key terms:
✓ Click the letter A on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click America: History and Life (ABC-Clio).
✓ Type your key terms in the first box next to in Keywords.
✓ Use the “and” operator to combine terms and retrieve items that contain all of the terms. Use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol after a word root to retrieve articles with the word root and all of its possible word endings. For example, type:
African American and church* and activ*
✓ Click Search.
✓ Result: The first 25 retrieved article titles will be displayed. If the full-text article is available online for a specific item, you will most likely see an Ebsco link, a Jstor link, a Project Muse link, or a combination of theses links immediately below the item. Click one of these links to view the full-text article. If full-text link options are not present, search for the journal in the Periodicals List.
✓ E-mail the citation you are viewing by typing your e-mail address in the yellow box below the citation and then clicking the E-mail to button.
EBSCOhost To search the EBSCOhost Research Databases for scholarly articles using
Research Databases your key terms:
✓ Click the letter E on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click EBSCOhost Research Databases.
✓ Click EBSCOhost Web.
✓ Select Academic Search Premier, Biography Collection Complete, History Reference Center, Humanities International Complete, and/or MasterFILE Premier.
✓ Click Continue.
✓ Type your key terms in the search box labeled Find:
✓ Use the “and” operator to combine terms and retrieve items that contain all of the terms. Use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol after a word root to retrieve articles with the word root and all of its possible word endings. For instance, type:
united states and international relations and chin*
✓ Limit your results to articles reviewed or judged by scholars in the field (in other words, scholarly or peer reviewed articles) by selecting Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals under the Limit your results heading.
✓ Click Search.
✓ Result: The first 10 retrieved article titles will be displayed. If the full-text article is available online for a specific item, you will see one or more of the following links immediately below the item: HTML Full Text, PDF Full Text, or Linked Full Text. Click one of these links to view the full-text article.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by clicking E-mail located at the top of your screen.
✓ If full-text link options are not present, click the TOUR button to check the availability of full-text for the article in other Kean University Library databases.
OmniFile Full Text Mega To search OmniFile Full Text Mega (WilsonWeb) for scholarly articles using your key terms:
✓ Click the letter O on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click OmniFile Full Text Mega (WilsonWeb).
✓ Type your key terms in the first, second, and/or third boxes adjacent to Search For:
✓ Use the “and” operator to combine terms and retrieve items that contain all of the terms. Use double quotes (“”) to retrieve items that contain specific phrases. Use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol after a word root to retrieve articles with the word root and all of its possible word endings. For example, type:
First search box: “cold war” Second search box: “united states”
✓ Limit your retrieved results to articles reviewed or judged by scholars in the field (in other words, scholarly or peer reviewed articles) by selecting Peer Reviewed.
✓ Click Start.
✓ Result: The first 10 retrieved article titles will be displayed. If the full-text article is available online for a specific item, you will see a blue Full Text HTML link, a red Full Text PDF link, or both immediately below the item. Click one of these icons to view the full-text article.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by clicking the blue Print Email Save button located on the left-hand side of your screen.
✓ If full-text link options are not present, click the TOUR button to check the availability of full-text for the article in other Kean University Library databases.
Project MUSE To search Project MUSE for scholarly articles:
✓ Click the letter P on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click Project MUSE.
✓ Click Search.
✓ Type your key terms in the search box adjacent to Search For:
✓ Use the “and” operator to combine terms and retrieve items that contain all of the terms. Use double quotes (“”) to retrieve items that contain specific phrases. Use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol after a word root to retrieve articles with the word root and all of its possible word endings. For instance, type:
women and homefront* and “World War I”
✓ Click Search.
✓ Result: The first 10 retrieved citations will be displayed. Click the citation titles to view the full-text articles. If available, click View in PDF to see a full-text page image of the article.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by going back to the results page and clicking the checkbox to the left of the article’s citation. Click Saved Marked Results. Click Email/Export Saved Results toward the top of the screen. Select E-mail under the heading Export marked results to. Click Export and proceed.
JSTOR To search JSTOR for scholarly articles:
✓ Click the letter J on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click JSTOR.
✓ Click Search.
✓ Type your key terms in the search box.
✓ Use the “AND” operator to combine terms and retrieve items that contain all of the terms. Use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol after a word root to retrieve articles with the word root and all of its possible word endings. For instance, type:
underground railroad AND new jersey
✓ Click Search.
✓ Result: The first 25 retrieved citations will be displayed. Click citation titles of interest to view the full-text articles.
✓ E-mail the article you are currently viewing by clicking Save Citation located above the article image. Click View Saved Citations. Select as an email instead of as a text file from the Export citations drop-down menu, and from the adjacent menu select printer-friendly instead of citation-manager. Click Export and proceed.
ProQuest Historical
Newspapers: The New
York Times (1851-2003) To search ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times for
newspaper articles using your key terms:
✓ Click the letter P on the Jump to menu.
✓ Click ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2003).
✓ Specify a particular date or date range in the Date range section.
✓ Type your key terms in the box underneath Basic Search.
✓ Use the “and” operator to combine terms and retrieve items that contain all of the terms. Use the asterisk (*) as a truncation symbol after a word root to retrieve articles with the word root and all of its possible word endings. For example, type:
lincoln and gettysburg address
✓ Click Search.
✓ Result: The first 10 retrieved article titles will be displayed. Click Article image-PDF to view the full-text article. Click Page map to view an image of the page on which the article appeared.
✓ E-mail the article by clicking Article image-PDF, then clicking Email at the top of your screen.
Additional Research Databases: Primary Documents
The Library recently added several new databases which provide access to primary documents. The databases listed below are available from the Articles & More section of the Library’s homepage (). Simply click on the first letter of the database name on the alphabetical Jump to menu, then click the desired database name to access the database:
o Black Thought and Culture: African Americans from Colonial Times to the Present (Alexander Street Press)
o North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral Histories (Alexander Street Press)
o Oral History Online (Alexander Street Press)
o Women and Social Movements in the United States 1600-2000 (Alexander Street Press)
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Copyright © 2008, Kean University Library
Compiled by Linda Cifelli and Caroline Geck .
April 7, 2008.
The Kean University Library offers a variety of print and digital research tools. From the Library’s homepage (), you can find:
• Books, E-books, Videos & More (Kean Catalog)
• Articles & More (Databases)
• Periodicals List (Journals, Magazines, Newspapers)
• Librarian-Selected Web Resources
**Please note**
The Facts on File Online Databases are available off-campus to non-Kean students who have a public library card. Simply visit:
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