Research Guide for History 170 P: Proseminar in Social Policy History
Spring 2007
Assignment: To find primary and secondary materials on some aspect of social policy history of the United States.
Reference Materials
These reference sources can provide you with a historical overview of your topic. Furthermore these entries may also contain bibliographies about your topic. Most of these print sources are located in the main reference collection area on the first floor. Some of these are located in the Ethnic and Gender Studies unit located on the second floor south.
- American Eras
Ref E169.1 A471979 1997 V.1-6
- American Cultural and Intellectual History
Ref E169.1E624 2001 V.1-2
- Asian American Encyclopedia
Ethnic and Gender Studies Library (EGSL) E184.06 A8275 1995 V. 1-6
- Dictionary of American History
Ref E174.D52 2003 V.1-10
- Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties
Reference KF4747.5 .E53 2006
- Encyclopedia of Ellis Island
Reference JV6484 .M67 2004
- Encyclopedia of the United States in the 19th Century
Ref E169.1E626 2001 V. 1-3
- Encyclopedia of the United States in the 20th Century
Ref E740.7 E53 1996 V.1-4
- Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the U.S.
EGSL Ref E184.S75 H365 1993 V.1-4
- Japanese American World War II Evacuation Oral History Project
Asian American Studies D769.8.A6 H36 1991
Finding Academic Journal Articles
Selecting Search Terms
Identify key terms or concepts that describe your research topic. Then come up with similiar concepts for each of those terms. These will be the words you use to search. You can print out this chart to help you build your search.
Use the Keyword search type and enter the terms or phrases relevant to your topic. From the results list the citation in order to find the article itself by using the UCSB catalog. In some cases the entire article is available online that you can print, email or save on a disk. Instructions to use these database off campus are available at
Off Campus Access.
- Use OR to combine terms when either one will do: regulations OR procedures
- Use AND to force the results to have both terms: immigration AND Ellis Island
- Most databases let you truncate by using a symbol to get other letters: immigra* gets you immigration, immigrants...
- The truncation symbol can be a *, ?, ! or other symbols depending on the database
- Be careful that you don't truncate too soon: ta* would also get you Tagalog, tabernacle and all other words starting with "ta"
From the Library's homepage click RESEARCH then choose ARTICLE INDEXES & DATABASES to find the appropriate databases for your topic. A citation has the following basic information: journal title, author, article title, publication date, volume and page numbers. You will need the JOURNAL TITLE to locate the article in the online catalog.
Humanities
- America: History and Life
- Historical Abstracts
- MLA International Bibliography
- Religion Database (ATLA)
Social Sciences
- Anthropology Literature
- PsycINFO
- Social Sciences Database (via CSA)
- Web of Science
Multi-discipline (Gender, Ethnic, and Area)
- Alternative Press Index
- Expanded Academic
- Gender Watch
- JSTOR
- Left Index
- Periodicals Index Online
- Project Muse
Primary and Archival Sources
What is a Primary Source?
- African American Newspapers: the 19th Century
- American Civil War: Letters and Diaries, 1860 - 1866
- Declassified Documents Reference System
- Early American Imprints (Evans and Shaw-Shoemaker), 1639 - 1819
- Early American Newspapers, 1690 - 1876
- Ethnic Newswatch
- Harpweek
- Lexis Nexis (News section)
- Los Angeles Times
- New York Times
- Newsbank
- Readers Guide to Periodical Literature, 1890 - 1982
- Wall Street Journal (historical), 1889 - 1986
Open Access Web Sources
Finding Government Documents and Legal Materials
- Congressional Universe (This database contains government documents on legislative and regulatory information, i.e. committee hearings, bills, laws, Federal codes, etc.)
- JSTOR (The advanced search allows you to limit your search to particular disciplines)
- LexisNexis Academic (The primary resource database for legal documents)
Research in Government Information contains useful information on federal and state government documents.
How a Bill Becomes a Law
Finding books and Journals
Use Pegasus to find books on your topic. The UCSB catalog will also tell you if the library has a subscription to the journals you need. More importantly the catalog record contains the call number, location,and availability of the journals, books and other library materials. You will need these data to track down the items you want in the library
Use the MELYVL catalog if you cannot find the materials you need in the UCSB library. MELVYL is the union catalog of the UC libraries. Remember that it takes 1 week to request materials from other UC libraries via inter-library loan (ILL).
Ask for Help!
Don't forget to ASK FOR HELP when you need it. You can find a reference librarian at the Main Reference Desk during the week, weekends and even on holidays. Ask a librarian or call the main reference desk: (805) 893.3133.