• Reference Resources
• Finding Books
• Finding Articles and Book reviews
• Web Resources
• Research Tips 

---

Reference Resources

The library has many reference resources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, etc.) that will help you find background information on topics in American History and related fields.  Selected resources are listed below.  Look on the shelves near these books; there may be similar books nearby with helpful information.

• Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies    Reference  E 45.E53 1993
• Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History   Reference E 169.1.E624 2001
• Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century   Reference E 169.1.E626 2001
• American Decades   Reference E169.12.A419 1994 (nine volumes, each covers one decade 1900-1989) 
• Documents of American History   Reference E173.C66
• Dictionary of American History    Reference E174.D52 1976
• Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century   Reference E 740.7.E53 1996
  

---

Finding Books

Online Catalogs  Use library online catalogs to find availability and location of books and other media by title, author, subject, or general keyword (searches all categories simultaneously).

• WSU Stewart Library Online Catalog (iPac) - catalog for WSU's library
• Utah Library Catalogs - links to catalogs for other libraries in Utah

Interlibrary Loan   If we do not own a particular book you need, we will borrow it for you from another library through Interlibrary Loan.

---

Finding Articles and Book Reviews

Article Databases

Article Databases  which are useful for finding articles on American history include America : History and Life, Academic Search Premier, JSTOR,  Project Muse, and Social Sciences Abstracts. Each of these databases can be accessed from the Stewart Library's list of databases in the Social Sciences. Most article databases may also be accessed from off-campus by following the instructions listed for each database.

Newspaper Databases 

Use newspaper databases to find newspaper articles by subject or keyword. 

Book Reviews 

Book Review Digest - Reviews of fiction and nonfiction in magazines and journals.  Search by author and publication date to find review excerpts and references to reviews in other publications.

Other sources of book reviews include the databases America : History and Life (1964 to current, no full text), Academic Search Premier (some full text from 1990 to current), and Academic Universe (full text of New York Times Book Review from 1980 to current as well as other sources).

---

Web Resources

Click here for a great list of web sites on American History compiled by Dr. Kathy Payne, Stewart Library's Reference and Information Services Librarian.

---

Research Tips

As you do you research, keep the following tips in mind:

• Clearly identify your information need
• Identify key words and search terms to match your topic
• Develop search statements using advanced search techniques such as Boolean logic, adjacency searching and truncation
• Use the online catalog to find books
• Use Social and Behavioral Sciences article databases to find magazine and  journal articles
• Go back to the online catalog to see if the journals are in Stewart Library and where they are located
• Use Interlibrary loan to get materials that are not in Stewart Library
• Use search engines to find Web information
• Carefully evaluate the information you find for usefulness and quality
• Revise your search terms and strategy to expand or narrow your results, be creative, look in other areas
• Use appropriate style to document and cite research
• Ask for HELP at  Reference, via phone or email

---