A database is simply an online collection of information.
It generally contains journal articles, but most databases also hold book chapters, book reviews, reports, and conference papers. Sometimes only the abstract, or summary, of a journal article will be available in a database but often you will be able to read the full text of the article too.
Databases that may contain information of interest to historians are described here.
Journal articles are peer reviewed sources and are hugely important as they provide a far greater insight into specific subjects rather than the broad overview seen in books.
In the case of History articles are contemporaneous and are also in themselves historical sources and may represent interpretations of the past. In instances articles may also contain original material and original sources.
Newspaper articles provide the information that was relevant at the time, it also gives primary data about what certain events were seen by the people at the time.
Many articles are collected and published in databases.
Not all sources are available on the internet or in databases.
In using articles it is important to asses articles and situate them. Articles from older journals may contain original material that no longer exists and this may render them very important. Articles may also exhibit the bias and views of their time.
Looking at contemporary work it is important to ensure that articles are scholarly, well researched and written and if possible peer reviewed.
Academic Search Complete provides access to thousands of peer-reviewed journal titles that you won't find freely available on the web.
Searchable via MultiSearch.
Subjects covered include -
Advanced Search
Enter your search term in the multiple search boxes and click on the dropdown arrows at AND to choose a Boolean operator AND, OR, NOT to broaden or narrow your search. Click on the dropdown options beside Select a field to further narrow your search by focusing on a particular field in which to run your search e.g. All text, Author, Abstract. Use Search Options below the advanced search box to further limit your results before running your search; to select an option click on the check box beside the option. To run your search click on Search.
Basic Search
Enter your keyword in the search box and click on Search for maximum number of results for your search.
Click on Search History to view and save searches and set up alerts.
Results
Search results are displayed giving the brief details of the document. View the abstract of a document by clicking on the magnifying glass icon to the right hand side of the results.
Add a search result to your personal folder by clicking on the blue folder icon. Results added to your folder will display a yellow folder.
Click on Relevance to sort by Date, Author and Source.
Click on Page Options to alter the display of the results page to a format of your choice.
Click on Share to add all results on a page or your search to your personal folder. From here you can also Create an alert for your search terms, complete the details in the pop-up box and click on Save Alert.
Refine Results allows you to limit your search results by Fulltext, References Available, Scholarly (Peer Reviewed Journals), Date, Source Type, Subject, Publication, Publisher, Company, Language Geography and NAICS/Industry. Click on the dropdown arrow by the heading and select the check box beside the option you want to limit by.
To access full text click on the PDF or HTML Full Text icon.
Publications
Under the Publications tab you can browse an A-Z of titles or browse publications by subject. To browse by subject enter the subject term in the search box and select By Subject & Description and click on Browse. On the results page the title of the publication and details of access to bibliographic records of the publication and information on years of access to full text will be displayed. Click on the name of the publication to go to the homepage of the publication. From the publication homepage you can view the publication details of the title. To the right of the screen details of All Issues and Articles are displayed. Select a year to view all volumes and issues for that year. Click on an issue link to access details of the articles in that issue.
Under the Subject Terms tab browse to find subject terms that you can use to search the database. Choose to search under Subjects, Places, People.
Irish Newspaper Archive provides access to a variety of local and national newspapers from all over the island of Ireland dating back as far as the 1700s in some cases. You will find local Dundalk paper, the Dundalk Democrat, dating back to 1849. It also contains one of Ireland's leading newspapers, the Irish Independent, dating back to 1905. This is a great resource for discovering historical and contemporary information, both national and local, on all aspects of Irish society and its people. You will find factual information, opinion pieces, images, ads, obituaries and more.
Not searchable via MultiSearch.
Once you are logged in watch the Search the Archive video for a demonstration of how to use the site. Some of the main features are described below.
Enter your keyword search in the search box at the top of the screen to begin your search. The results screen offers a number of options to broaden or narrow your search, such as:
Click on the arrow to the right hand side of the search box to use the Boolean operators NEAR, AND, OR, NOT to combine or exclude search terms and run your search again.
Refine your search using the filters on the left hand side of the screen; these include publication title, date, front page only and exact phrase.
In the results screen you can also sort by Relevance, Newest, Oldest.
View results by Articles, Pictures or Ads.
Add favourite articles to My Collection by clicking on Add to my collection beneath each result.
Click on any result to open the full article. You will see options to Add to my collection, Print, Email, Save, Share via Facebook and Twitter.
Click Browse and then on the left hand side of the screen click on the down arrow under Select Title to choose a newspaper to browse, you can also select a month and day of the week. Above the results displayed you can choose a particular year to view.
JSTOR is a multidisciplinary database covering archaeology; area studies; classical studies; economics; history; architecture; architectural history; art; art history; film studies; folklore; language and literature; music; performing arts; religion; business; education; law; psychology; public policy and administration; linguistics; political science; arts; humanities; social science.
Searchable via MultiSearch.
Search JSTOR
Enter your keyword search in the search box and click on the spyglass to begin your search. From the results screen you can filter your results using the Refine Results options to the left hand side of the screen including content type, publication date and subject. To view the full text of a result click on the title. To the left hand side of the article click on the icons view the article metadata, view images contained in the article and view references. Click on Cite this item to view citation options. Note always check citations against your referencing guide to ensure the are correct. From this screen you can also download the article by selecting Download PDF or save the article to WorkSpace or Share via Twitter, Facebook and Email.
Advanced Search
Use multiple search boxes, keywords and Boolean Operators AND, OR, NOT and NEAR to broaden or narrow your search. Use the drop down arrow at All Fields to choose the field you want to search in. Choose the Item Type, Date, Journal or Book Title or Discipline you want to search in and click on Submit Advanced Search to run your search.
Browse
Click on the Browse tab to browse by Subject, Title, Collections and Publisher.
Tools
Text Analyzer allows you to search for content in JSTOR by uploading a text document e.g. your essay, a picture of a page from a textbook, an article. Text Analyzer will look at the document and recommend articles and chapters in JSTOR on the same topic. See About Text Analyzer for details on the types of files and languages accepted.
Support
For further information on using JSTOR click and Support and Students.
BBIH provides access to over 620,00 bibliographic records covering British and Irish and global history from 55 BCE to the present day.
It includes information on books, articles from journals and chapters from books of essays, including Festschriften and conference proceedings.
Not searchable via MultiSearch.
In BBIH you can find out what you need to read to become familiar with a subject.
Find out where to locate resources by following links in the records. If we don't have access to the full text you can submit an Interlibrary loan request.
Sign up for email alerts.
Export citations.
Create your own bibliography.
Use simple search for a quick overview of the number of records available on your keyword search. Follow the links in the record to look at abstracts of the work to see if it is of interest to you.
Advanced search allows you to be more precise and choose your search fields in advance e.g. type of material, author, year of publication, or use the subject tree search to find subjects of interest. Click in the Subject Tree field where is says All Subjects to bring up the subject tree.
Click on How can BBIH help me to find short helpful videos on searching BBIH and using the citation and export tools. There are videos on using BBIH for your undergraduate, MA/PhD thesis and using BBIH with Zotero.
We subscribe to the print version of Irish Historical Studies.
You can access the Table of Contents here
We can provide access to copies of articles if CopyRight Law permits.
Find out about how to do that here Scan & Send
