Find Articles - TC 302: History of the Self - Matysik - LibGuides at University of Texas at Austin

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Keywords and Database Searching

Single articles on a topic are found in our library databases. The UT Libraries pay to have access to these databases and the articles they contain.

For this class, using the advanced library search bar might be a good idea, limit to books or scholarly articles.

JSTOR and Academic Search complete contain materials from lots of different subject areas. The other databases recommended for your class are more focused on a subject area. Think about what subject area your topic falls into, and if you aren't sure, use the library search bar advanced search, JSTOR, or Academic search complete.

Searching databases is different than searching Google. Distil what you're looking for into a few key terms or phrases, rather than whole sentences. Think of different ways to say those key terms, because different writers will refer to the same concept using different terms. To turn your topic into keywords or search terms, use this tool, or:

Write down your topic and underline the main concepts (ex. Hannah Arendt and the concept of self in The Origins Of Totalitarianism) * Authors or specific works may not have related terms.

For each main concept, brainstorm a few synonyms and related terms (broader or narrower) that get at that concept:

Key Concepts

Hannah Arendt

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Self

Related Terms

Identity

Self concept

Jewish Identity

Individual

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

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
1865 - present. Unlimited users.

Updated daily. A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database, with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.
JSTOR
Dates of coverage vary. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. Offers a high-quality, interdisciplinary archive to support scholarship and teaching. Includes archives of over 1,000 leading academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. The entire corpus is full-text searchable, offers search term highlighting, includes high-quality images, and is interlinked by millions of citations and references.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide
MLA International Bibliography
1926 - present. Unlimited users.
Updated ten times per year. Indexes critical materials on literature, criticism, drama, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Provides access to citations from over 4,400 journals, series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. Produced by the Modern Language Association.
Historical Abstracts
1955 - present. Unlimited users.
Updated regularly. Contains citations and abstracts of worldwide literature (excluding the United States and Canada) from approximately 2,100 journals and (since 1980) books and dissertations on political, diplomatic, economic, social, cultural and intellectual history and related areas of the social sciences and humanities. Covers history dating from 1450 to the present. The database corresponds to the print Historical Abstracts, which was produced by ABC-CLIO.
Philosopher's Index
1940 - present. Unlimited users.
Updated quarterly. Provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology,and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education,and language.

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What are databases?

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