About this guide
In a rush? Use the tabs below to quickly access recommended search tools and resources.
Ready to dive deeper? Use the tabs on the left to explore and learn more about a wide variety of search tools and strategies to locate books and ebooks, background information, primary sources, and secondary sources. Finally, access helpful guidance on academic paper writing.
If you have a question, use the buttons below my picture to get in touch or ask the library.
Quick start resources
- IUCAT This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
IUCAT, the online catalog for all titles available through IU Libraries, is the often the best place to start a search for books and ebooks, and also includes government documents, videos, and sound recordings.
- Use broad search terms to give IUCAT the best chance of finding relevant titles.
- Use the red Request This button to have print materials delivered to the most convenient library for pick-up.
- Use the filters like Subject and Publication Year on the left side of the page to narrow your search results.
- When you find one title that looks promising, use the hyperlinked Subject headings to locate additional titles.
- Watch this brief video tutorial on searching and accessing books and ebooks in IUCAT.
Most databases allow you click a box with a name like "scholarly articles," which does a reasonably good job of limiting your results to high-quality, academic articles.
- Historical AbstractsLimited to publications focused on history, Historical Abstracts contains and links out to full-text articles on a broad range of historical topics.
- JSTOROne of the most prominent databases for research in the humanities, JSTOR provides access to a wide range of journals, book chapters, and more.
- Project MuseThis database provides full-text access to both scholarly journals and ebooks. Use the robust set of filters on the left to narrow your search results.
- ProQuest One AcademicLimit your results to Scholarly Journals to access a wide variety of titles. Use the Document Type filter on the left to limit your results to features and articles.
- AM ExplorerSearch across all Adam Matthew digital collections, including Africa and the New Imperialism, Amnesty International Archives, Defining Gender, Empire Online, Frontier Life, Service Newspapers of World War Two, and many more.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Digital archive of historical newspapers. Each issue of each title includes the complete paper, cover-to-cover, with full-page and article images.
- IUCAT This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
IUCAT, the online catalog for all titles available through IU Libraries, is the often the best place to start a search for books and ebooks, and also includes government documents, videos, and sound recordings.
- IU Libraries: Start Your SearchWhen you want to locate a source that you find in a citation or mentioned in another source, use the Start Your Search box on the IU Libraries website to get started. This tool will search IUCAT, OneSearch, and more to try to locate the title. If it can't find the citation, it will provide options to search for the source in WorldCat and Google Scholar. If you still can't find access to what you need, send me an email with the citation information.