LibGuides: HSTR 201: Introduction to Historical Research : Finding Scholarly Articles

Finding Scholarly Sources

"Authority is contextual and constructed' is another pillar of the ACRL Information literacy framework. Simply stated, what 'counts' as scholarly depends on the context, and on a set of social constructions. These consideratons are fluid, they are not fixed. Some of the relevant context is about the mode of communication (twitter vs an academic article) and some of it is based on you (how you use the information, what additional informaiton you provide, what you are trying to say or do in your writing). Disciplines also have conventions and standards for what is considered scholarly or popular.

Less scholarly sources can be used to humanize a topic, add a storytelling element, bring it up to current day, as examples, to individualize a generalization, and for many more reasons. As long as YOU use them intentionally, with purpose, they are usable.

Scholarly Article databases and indexes

America: History & Life with Full Text, Historical Abstracts Index covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present.
Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) Reference of principally western-language articles and book chapters on all parts of Asia published since 1971.
Bibliography of British and Irish History Guide on published writing on British and Irish history covering the history of British and Irish relations with the rest of the world, including the British empire and the Commonwealth, as well as British and Irish domestic history.
Bibliography of Indigenous Peoples in North America This resource covers a wide range of topics including archaeology, multicultural relations, gaming, governance, legend, and literacy. Dates of coverage range from the sixteenth century to the present.
EconLit American Economic Association's electronic database, this is the world's foremost source of references to economic literature. It provides comprehensive information on accounting, capital markets, econometrics, economic forecasting, government regulations, labor economics, monetary theory, urban economics and much more.
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 Offers a broad range of subject coverage in the humanities and social sciences with high-quality indexing of more than 1,300,000 articles in nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews.
Index Islamicus Index to publications on Islamic subjects throughout the world. The scope includes the Middle East, the Muslim areas of Asia and Africa, plus Muslim minorities elsewhere in the world.
PILOTS: Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress Covers the Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress, and is produced at the headquarters of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vermont. Its goal is to include citations to all literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental-health sequelae of traumatic events, without disciplinary, linguistic, or geographical limitations, and to offer both current and retrospective coverage. Coverage 1871 - current.

Where is my Article?

The database will tell you everything you need to know about an article (the full citation, and additional information).

Often, the entire article is included in the database. Use PDF links or HTML links.
Sometimes you have to follow links from the database to the online article, often via our library catalogue. Use "Download PDF" links!
Sometimes, the article is only available in print, and you have to use the Library Catalogue to find out where the journal that holds the article is in the library. In this case, the "Download PDF" link will be replaced with information including the library, collection, and call number for the journal. Use the "Locate" button in the long record to determine which floor, and where on that floor, to visit to find the journal.
Sometimes, you'll need to request the article via Interlibrary Loan. Do this in the 'Get This' screen, or via the ILL request form.