(310) 243-3715

CSUDH Library and Information Resources for

HIST 490 - History and Memory in the U.S. and Latin America

Prepared by:Caroline Bordinaro, Librarian
cbordinaro@csudh.edu (310)243-2084

Go to: Finding Books | Finding Magazines, Newspapers and Journals | Finding Websites | Library Guides

Concepts and questions for beginning research:

• Where to Start?
  • What's your research question?
  • What information do you need to find?
• Who cares about the same information? (e.g.: researchers, historians, government, etc.)
  • What kind of information do they need?
  • Where would they get it?
• Types of information available
  • Books
  • Articles from journals, magazines and newspapers
  • Websites
• What is a primary source? What is a secondary source? Click here to find out.
• Search Concepts
  • Boolean operators
    • 1. AND: Adidas AND marketing
      2. OR: Adidas OR Nike
      3. NOT: Adidas NOT shoes
  • Phrase searching"" ( "Nike Sportswear of America")
  • USE THE HELP SCREENS

BONUS!! Try our new SEARCH TUTORIAL and tell us how you liked it! Send comments to Jeff Broude, librarian at jbroude@csudh.edu.

Finding Books in the library

Go to TOROFIND: the CSUDH Library Catalog and search on the title, author, subject or keyword. Look not only for that specific call number, but also check out the books in that section.

• If you don't see the right item listed, or want more titles, try an on a few keywords (in separate boxes), such as genealogy, ethnography or postmodernism. Add terms like anthology, novel or periodical.
• If you still don't find the right book, ask a reference librarian.
• Recommended indexes to older publications:
  • Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature - REF AI3. R47 (Index Table)
  • Humanities Index - REF AI3. H85 (Index Table)
  • International Index - REF AI3. L57 (Index Table)
  • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature - REF AI3. P7 (Index Table)

Go to: Finding Websites

Magazine, journal and newspaper articles online

Online history indexes must be accessed through these links. For further exploration, go to the CSUDH library homepage (library.csudh.edu), and select Find Journal Articles & Electronic Resources. You may either browse by subject area or go to your favorite resource using the Alphabetical List.

NOTE: These are subscription databases, selected and provided specifically for CSUDH students. To access from home, please see our Remote Patron Access Instructions guide for login instructions.

Recommended indexes:

• America History and Life : indexes over 2000 journals on American History.
• JSTOR: Peer reviewed journal articles on a wide range of Humanities subjects.
• Historical Abstracts: World history from 1450 to the present.
• Humanities Full Text: Scroll down list to find database name.
• Social Sciences Full Text : Scroll down list to find database name.
• Los Angeles Times Historical Index: Scanned L.A. Times articles and images from 1881-1968.

These indexes are not specifically history related, but they are very good for information on general and local subjects:

• Britannica Online : the online version of Encyclopedia Britannica. Search on your topic or subject.
• Academic Search Premier: Scroll down list to find database name.
• Project Muse: a multi-subject scholarly article index

Not sure how to search? Use our How To Find Articles help page for assistance.

Finding quality websites

These are indexes to quality web sites that have been reviewed by librarians. The sites have been checked for accuracy, timiliness, stabilty, and will generally conform to the standards of academic research. However, please be judicious in the use of websites in general, because anybody can put anything on the web.

• Infomine (infomine.ucr.edu): A project from the Univeristy of California and other universities, it is a searchable index of websites specifically appropriate for university research. Click on SocSci & Humanities to search their specialized index.
• Librarian's Index to the Internet (www.lii.org): Index of websites reviewed by librarians, geared toward the general public. Choose a topic from the index or use Advanced Search to search for keywords.
• CSUDH Humanities Internet Guide (library.csudh.edu/cyberlib/human.htm): Resource guide for humanities sites on the Internet compiled by CSUDH librarians.
• Evaluating Information on the Web: Here is a very good checklist from the Pasadena City College Library for judging the quality of not only information on the Internet, but any information you may want to use for an assignment.
• The American Memory Project (lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ ) is a collection of digitized documents, photographs, recorded sound, moving pictures and text from the Library of Congress Americana collections. There are over 70 collections included in the project. Go the the American Memory website and search a particular topic or browse through the collections.
• American Studies Web: Historical and Archival Resources (lumen.georgetown.edu/projects/asw/): An extensive list of links to historical studies, archival resources and general history resources in the field of American history.

For more detailed help, download our LIBRARY GUIDES (.doc format) :

• Finding journal articles using Academic Search Premier (advanced search/retrieval methods, Interlibrary Loan)
• Accessing databases from off campus
• What is a Literature Review?
• Searching Google (advanced Internet search methods)
• OR click here to download ALL FOUR GUIDES with BONUS MATERIAL! (10pgs.)

Go to: Finding Books | Finding Magazines, Newspapers and Journals | Finding Websites

This page last updated on 9/7/05 by C. Bordinaro