How to Search the Databases
When you are starting your initial search, use keywords that best describes your topic. Use the connector "AND" between your keywords or enter keywords in different search boxes. For example if you are interested in religious motivations of the British abolitionists, you could do a search like this:
You can use synonyms or related terms to describe your topics. For example, "religion or moral" in the search above.
You can also use an asterisk at the end of a word to retrieve various endings. For example, abolitionis* would retrieve abolitionist and abolitionists, as well as abolitionism.
When you look at your list of results in the database, If the full-text of an article is not readily available, click on the FIND IT @ SCU LIBRAIRES icon to see if it's available in another database or in print in the library. If it's not you will have the option of using the Interlibrary Loan Service. It's free and very fast!
Suggested Database
History Databases:
- America: History and Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database provides articles, books, book reviews, and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present, and publication dates go from the late 19th century to the present.
- Historical Abstracts with full-text This link opens in a new windowContains articles, books, book reviews, and dissertations on the history of the world (except United States and Canada) from the 15th century to the present, and publication dates go from the 19th century to the present.
Social Sciences Databases:
- GenderWatch This link opens in a new windowThis database provides full-text articles on gender and women's studies, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) by authoritative perspectives from 1970 to present.
- LGBTQ+ Source This link opens in a new windowThis database provides full-text scholarly and popular articles, journals, magazines, and regional newspapers on current or historically significant LGBTQ issues, studies, queer theory, and more.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to journals, books, conference papers, and dissertations on the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences from 1963 to present.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new windowA bibliographic database providing indexing and abstracts for disciplines including sociology, history, international relations and humanities. All sources relevant to Women's studies on a global scale. 1972 - present.
Multidisciplinary Databases:
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowThis multidisciplinary database provides access to over 5,600 active full-text journals and over 6,500 open access journals. Covers topics that range from business, education, social sciences, humanities, engineering, and science. Coverage varies, updates also vary.
- Humanities Full Text This link opens in a new windowThis database provides brief summaries of, and information on where to find, English-language articles in the most important journals in the humanities, published from 1984 to the present.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to images and the full text of articles in back issues of selected scholarly journals related to the humanities, social sciences, and life sciences.