Off Campus Access - To access the library research databases referenced on this guide from off campus, you will need to login to OCA. Click here for information regarding the service.
Make use of the library's How To Guides - particularly useful for this assignment are:
Keep track of your successful keyword searches and subject headings and make note of the names of authors/scholars that come up related to your topic. The latter strategy will help decrease the number of duplicative searches you run.
The library has a sample research organization sheet available on-line.
Use the resources listed below to get an overview of your topic as well as to generate keywords to employ in the databases and catalogs.
Encyclopedias, bibliographies, and scholarly web pages are a good starting point for any research project. See How to Evaluate Information on the Web for help with assessing web pages.
Write down key dates, facts, statistics provided, look for a bibliography and make use of it.
Look up (in cruzcat) the titles of journals and books referenced in the encyclopedias, bibliographies or web pages and see if we own them at UCSC.
McHenry Reference Print Sources
The list below represents a sample of options, use Cruzcat to find more.
Encyclopedia of American Cultural and Intellectual History
McHenry Reference E169.1 .E624 2001
Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
McHenry Reference
JK511.E53 1994
Encyclopedia of African American Society
McHenry Reference E185 E546 2005 v. 1-3
Encyclopedia of the American Legislative System...
McHenry Reference
JF501.E53 1994
Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
McHenry Reference
JX1407.E53
Encyclopedia of American Economic History
McHenry Reference HC103.E52
Encyclopedia of American Social History
McHenry Reference
HN57.E58 1993
Encyclopedia of American Indian Wars, 1492-1890
McHenry Reference E81 .K44 1997
Encyclopedia of American Social Movements
McHenry Reference HN 57 E59 2001 v. 1-4
Encyclopedia of American Parties, Campaigns, and Elections
American Memory - Library of Congress site. Contains brief overviews of topics, biographies and links to pamphlet collections (primary source material).
Documenting the American South - University Library of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill project includes texts, oral histories, interviews and songs that document the history of the American south.
Designs for Democracy - over 125 images in chronological order, "...
to demonstrate changing styles and technological advances, as well as to illustrate the evolving role of the Federal Government in American life."
Eyewitness - first person accounts of major events in American History. A few from Early Republic era are available.
America's Founding Fathers - biographical overviews of the men who were delegates to the Consitutional Convention.
Lewis and Clark - Missouri Historical Society overview of the national bicentennial exhibition. The resources link includes a nice bibliography organized by topic (politics and diplomacy, plants, trip preparation, etc.).
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War - Smithsonian Institute on-line exhibit. The exhibit includes an overview of the conflicts (War of 1812, Eastern Indian Wars), images and descriptions of artifacts.
Early Encounters in North America (1542 - 1900's.) Searchable and browsable database of primary documents from early recorded history of North America. Includes transcriptions of letters, diaries, memoirs and accounts of early encounters.
Subject area(s): ['General Subjects', 'Humanities']. Covers: 1542 - 1900's. s.
Nineteenth Century Masterfile (1802-1906) - Also known as Poole's Index to Periodical Literature. Includes American and British periodicals
North American Women's Letters and Diaries (1675-1941) The searchable and browseable database contains the full-text of women's diaries and correspondence.
Subject area(s): Social Sciences. Covers documents written in colonial times to 1950.
Pennsylvania Gazette (1728-1800) Searchable database from Accessible Archives that contains the full text of the newspaper, 1728 - 1800. The Pennsylvania Gazette is considered newspaper of record for the 18th century. It provides the reader with a first hand view of colonial America, the American Revolution and the New Republic, and offers important social, political and cultural perspectives of each of the periods. Also included is the full-text of other important writings such as: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Letters from a Farmer, Thomas Payne�s Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, and more. Subject area(s): ['General Subjects', 'Humanities', 'Social Sciences']. Covers 1728-1800.
Godey's Ladies Book (1830-1865) Godeys Lady's Book is a searchable databases from Accessible Archives which contains the full text of the nineteenth century magazine. The publication was intended to entertain, inform, and educate the women of America. In addition to extensive fashion descriptions and plates, the early issues included biographical sketches, articles about handcrafts, female costume, the dance, equestrienne procedures, health & hygiene for ladies, recipes & remedies, etc. Each issue also contained two pages of sheet music, written essentially for the piano forte.
Subject area(s): ['Humanities', 'Social Sciences']. Covers 1830 -1845, Accessible Archives plans to digitize issues through 1880
America's Historical Newspapers(1690-1876) Searchable database of text of early American newspapers. Articles and pages can be viewed as images in a Web browser, or downloaded as pdf documents. Part of the Archive of Americana collection from Newsbank/Readex.
Subject area(s): Humanities. Covers: 1690-1876.
Archive of Americana Collectively search "Early American Imprints: Series 1 1639-1800" (Evans), "Early American Imprints: Series 2 1801-1819" (Shaw-Shoemaker), "Early American Newspapers 1690-1876", "American State Papers 1789-1838", and the "US Congressional Serials Set 1817-1980". Publisher is Newsbank.
Coverage varies, 1639-1980.
Evans Digital Edition: Early American Imprints, Series I(1639-1800) Searchable and browsable database of primary documents from American history. Subjects include agriculture, foreign affairs, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, temperance, and witchcraft. Most documents are available online as scanned images.
Subject area(s): General Subjects. Covers: 1639-1800
Early American Imprints Series II(1801-1819) The resource provides searchable, full-text and full-page image access to 36,000 American books, pamphlets, broadsides, state papers, and other print genres published from 1801-1819. This is a full digitization of the microform set Early American Imprints, Series II, 1801-1819, which was based on the American Bibliography of Ralph R. Shaw and Richard H. Shoemaker.�
Subject area(s): Humanities. Covers: 1801-1819.
American State Papers(1789-1838) Primary source material comprised of over 6,000 documents of U.S congressional materials from 1789 through 1838.
Subject area(s): Social Sciences. 1789-1838)
Early American Newspapers Digital(1690-1876) Searchable, full text facsimile images of newspapers published in the U.S. between 1690-1876.
Subject area(s): ['General Subjects', 'Humanities']. Covers: 1690-1876.
Search Cruzcat for narratives, autobiography, letters, or memoir for primary source materials in print or on microfilm.
EX: subject search : American Diaries - Bibliography OR keyword search: name of person researching and memoir OR correspondence
America History and Life - Historical coverage of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Contains citations and abstracts for articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations. The database also includes CLIO Notes, which guides the user through chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes in American history.
Subject area(s): ['Humanities', 'Social Sciences']. Covers: Articles written 1964 - present.
Project Muse -
This searchable database contains online access to the full-text of over 100 scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Subject area(s): ['Art and Art History', 'Humanities', 'Science and Engineering', 'Social Sciences']. Coverage varies.
JSTOR -
A searchable database containing the full-text of back issues of more than 160 academic journals.
Subject area(s): ['Humanities', 'Science and Engineering', 'Social Sciences']. Coverage: Archival. Latest three years are not available.
PAO -
Formerly titled PCI Full Text. This searchable database contains citations for articles in over 230 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences. Full text is available for all articles. Technical note: Internet Explorer for Macintosh does not properly display full text of PCI articles. Please use Netscape or another browser on Mac computers.
Subject area(s): ['Humanities', 'Social Sciences']. Covers: 1770 - 1995
Expanded Academic - Infotrac -
EA ASAP from Infotrac, formerly known as the Magazine and Journal Articles database or MAGS, contains citations for articles in popular magazines and scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and general sciences. Legal, business, and health journals are also included. Many records have abstracts and full text.
Subject area(s): ['Art and Art History', 'General Subjects', 'Humanities', 'Science and Engineering', 'Social Sciences']. Covers: 1980-present.
MLA - This searchable database contains citations for articles, books, and book chapters in literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. Compiled by the Modern Language Association.
Subject area(s): Humanities. Covers: 1963 - present
Use the keywords or subject terms you gathered through searching in the encyclopedias and recommended web pages in the Cruzcat catalog.
Make note of the subjects Cruzcat uses to describe your topic; link from the subject headings to other related material.
If your topic is a person, try searching for your person as a subject in Cruzcat, ex. Jefferson, Thomas
Use the modify or limit/sort button to focus your search (i.e., located in McHenry Reference or by format, journal, for example).
Send successful searches to your email account - put the keywords or subject headings you used in the message line to remind yourself of how you found the item.
Some sample subject headings:
United States -- Territorial expansion
United States -- Race relations -- Sources
Messianism, Political -- United States. (manifest destiny)
United States -- Social conditions -- To 1865
Democracy -- United States -- History
National characteristics, American
United States -- Politics and government -- 1789-1809.
United States -- Foreign relations
United States -- Discovery and Exploration
Pluralism (Social sciences) -- United States -- History
Ethnicity -- United States -- History
Democracy -- United States -- History
Labor laws and legislation -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
Constitutional history -- United States.
United States -- Foreign relations -- France.
Racism -- United States -- History
Women in Politics -- United States -- History -- 18th century
- UC-wide catalog. Use this catalog to search for items not owned by UCSC.
Order items not owned at UCSC through Melvyl .
The latter is a service that allows UCSC faculty, staff and students to request items owned throughout the University of California system libraries and beyond.
NOTE: start your research early. Ordering books from outside of UCSC takes time. Allow a week for book delivery and 48 hours for article delivery.
Off Campus Access - To access the library research databases referenced on this guide from off campus, you will need to login to OCA. Click here for information regarding the service. 
- UC-wide catalog. Use this catalog to search for items not owned by UCSC. 
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