LibGuides: HIST 17A: Early North America (Henderson, Fall 2025): Articles & Journals

Best Places to Start

UCSB Library subscribes to hundreds of research databases, which are excellent tools to use for finding scholarly articles. Below is a very small selection of these, many of which contain the full text of articles. If you do not see a link to the full text, use the image of blue and yellow Get it at UC logo link to find a different access point or to order a copy through Interlibrary Loan.

The complete list of databases, including descriptions, is here: A-Z list of databases.

America: History and Life
Historical Abstracts
Academic Search Complete
JSTOR
Project Muse
Google Scholar
- Users who do not have a UCSBnet ID and password can search Google Scholar without authentication. However, you will not be able to access full text from sites that require a subscription.
- The Google Scholar link in the database list is proxied to allow UCSB users to easily access subscription resources after discovery in Google Scholar.
- The UC has partnered with Google Scholar to allow our users to click on the familiar "Get it at UC" button to reach full text of materials that are available through the UCSB Library.
  - In Google Scholar, expand the menu and select “Settings”
  - Choose “Library links”
  - Search on “university of california, santa barbara”
  - Check the box for "University of California, Santa Barbara - Get it at UC" and save your preferences

Finding Articles

To find journals (rather than specific articles within journals), use Browzine or UC Library Journal Search.

To locate an article for which you have a citation, use Google Scholar or Fetch Item (Citation Linker).

To find scholarly articles on your topic, use the library's Article Databases.

Tips for Using Library Databases

Here are the basic steps to using an article database:

1. Decide which database to use. The complete list of databases, including descriptions, is here: A-Z list of databases.

2. I've listed a few excellent databases to start with on this page, but you will want to explore others as well.

3. Always use the Advanced Search option.

4. Databases don't like full sentences! Build your search using a few words that best describe the main concepts of your topic. These are your "keywords."

4. Select whichever filters are appropriate. You may need to select "peer-reviewed" or "academic articles" in the left margin.

6. Do not select "full text" as one of the filters because this will severely limit your results. Instead, see #7 below.

7. If the full text of an article is not available in the database itself, use the image of blue and yellow Get it at UC logo link. This will take you to the article on another platform or will offer you an option to order a scanned copy through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

8. Most article databases allow you to save, email, cite, download, or export citations or full articles.