LibGuides: UGS 302: The Contested Past- Walthall: Find Articles

Find Articles on a Topic

Choose a Database
Keywords and Database Searching

For this assignment, you might need several types of sources:

Source Type	Start Here
Scholarly Articles	Library databases, see recommendations below, start with the Library search advanced search.
Background Information (definitions, short explanations of a topic)	Gale eBooks (for encyclopedias that were published and often written by experts) Wikipedia - as a jumping off point to other materials
Journalism/News	New York Times access, specific news sites (like the Texas Tribune), Google, or the UT Libraries news databases (like Nexis Uni). Make sure to evaluate unfamiliar publications. Google Search Tips: Search only a specific site (ex: texastribune.org) or domain (ex: .edu or .gov) by typing in your search followed by site:.org, site:.gov (ex: I 35 site:texastribune.org) Search for an exact phrase by putting your search terms in quotation marks (ex: “Interstate Highway 35”)

Learn more about databases with the video in the right column.

See search examples on the second tab in this box, "Keywords and Database Searching"

Keyword tool
Use this tool to help you brainstorm keywords on your topic.

Searching databases is different than searching in Google. Distil what you're looking for into a few key terms or phrases

should the Elgin Marbles be returned to Greece

For each main concept, brainstorm a few synonyms and related terms that get at that concept:

The first key concept will likely be in common for everyone on this topic, but the second and third will be different, background information can help with determining what to search for.

Key Concepts

Elgin Marbles

Greece

Great Britain

Related Terms

Parthenon Frieze

Parthenon sculptures

Antiquities

stolen antiquities

Acropolis Museum

repatriation

British Museum

Combine key terms using AND and OR:
- AND narrows your search by looking for articles with all of the words (your two or three key concepts should be connected with AND, because you need all of them represented in useful articles).
- OR broadens your search by looking for articles with any of the words (synonyms and related terms should be separated by OR - they get at the same key concepts, so any of them are useful).
Try different combinations of your keywords to get better results as you search:

Databases

Multidisciplinary Databases

Library search bar - advanced search
The advanced search version of the search bar on the library homepage. Use options to limit to books or to scholarly/peer reviewed articles.

Academic Search Complete
Find popular and scholarly articles from across disciplines.
JSTOR
Find mostly articles and books from the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences.

Subject-Specific Databases

Historical Abstracts
Find scholarly articles and other materials in the discipline of history.
SocINDEX with Full Text

Unlimited users.
In addition to full-text journals, SocINDEX with Full Text contains informative abstracts for core coverage journals dating as far back as 1895. Includes indexing for books, monographs, conference papers and other non-periodical content sources.

News

New York Times Access
As a UT student, you have free unlimited access to the New York Times at nyt.com.

Nexis Uni
Find news articles from the U.S. and around the world.
Daily Texan

Unlimited users.
Full issues of the student newspaper of UT Austin.

Texas Tribune
Non-profit online only journalism focused on Texas.
Austin American Statesman - Post-1997
Newer Statesman articles - we have a couple of access options, but choose the Factiva link for the most up-to-date coverage.

Austin American Statesman (Historical)

Unlimited users.
Provides full text and full image articles with digital reproductions of every page, every article and every issue in PDF format. As the leading newspaper in the capital of Texas, the Historical Austin American Statesman provides researchers with unique insights into the political, economic, cultural, and social life of this important state, as well as the southwest U.S. from the late 19th through the 20th century. The paper has strong central Texas coverage, especially for political reporting.

Background

Gale eBooks

Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide

Complete list of databases
Sort by type of database (like historical newspapers) or by subject (like Art and Art History) to find more useful databases.

Find Articles Tutorials

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What are databases?

This video, from RMIT University, explains what a database is...

Where's the Article?

If you don’t see a .pdf of the article you want, click FIND IT AT UT to find it in another database or in print in the Libraries.

If it is only in print in the Libraries or we don’t own the article, click GET A SCAN to have the article emailed to you. This option will take a few days.