HIST 320A: Founding Farmers: Finding Books & Articles

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Enter two or three keywords in the search box. You may need to try different combinations of words to find exactly what you're looking for. To limit your search to books, check the box next to "Books/eBooks" in the "Material Type" panel. 

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Once you've found a book you're interested in, write down the "call number" provided. This is the address where that books lives on the shelves.

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Look for the signs on the ends of the rows to help you find the shelf that has your book.

Books about similar subjects are grouped together on the shelves, so take a look at the books beside the one you were initially interested. Chances are good you'll find other relevant sources nearby!

If you need help, ask a librarian or staff member at the main desk on the library's first floor.

• Select Scholarly Sources to limit you search to only articles published in scholarly, peer-reviewed journals.
• Select Full-Text to see only articles you can read immediately.
• If the full text of an article isn't available, you can request it for free through InterLibrary Loan (ILLIAD). Articles usually take 24-48 hours to arrive, and are sent to you by email.
• When you have found an article that is close to what you are looking for, look at the subject headings. Try searching these terms to find relevant articles.
• Look at the references/citations at the end of an article to find more articles on your topic.

If you're looking only for articles--including scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles--use the dropdown menu beside the main search box to select "Articles."

Enter a few important subject-related keywords in the search box and hit the "Search" button.

You can narrow your results even further on your search results screen. If you're only interested in articles from Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed journals, look for the "Limit To" panel and click the box that says "Scholarly Sources." Your results list will be updated to weed out non-scholarly sources.