Resource of the Week

July 30, 2009

America's Historical Newspapers

Search full text and view page images of newspapers from hundreds of American communities published from 1690 through 1922. Users can limit searches to items that fall into such categories as news/opinion, election returns, letters, poetry, legislative information, prices, advertisements, matrimony notices, and death notices. Over 1000 newspapers from all 50 states are available. America's Historical Newspapers enables researchers to explore virtually every aspect of America during the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.

Search tips:


  • To search names use the ADJ[x] operator. It finds documents where search terms appear within x words of each other and in the same order. Where x is not specified, this proximity operator defaults to 1. This is particularly useful for names since it allows for middle initials.

  • The search engine will return the portion of the page that contains your search terms. To view the entire page, click on the View Full Page link in the record . You may also view just the article by using the view article link.

  • Because this is an image database, expect some search results that do not match your search terms. The program may recognize the wrong term and retrieve a document that does not contain your terms.

Where is it :

Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select America's Historical Newspapers.

Quick link:

http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://infoweb.newsbank.com/?db=EANX

Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 3:14 PM |

Dissertations and Theses

Dissertations and Theses contains over 1.5 million entries, providing citations to North American and European doctoral dissertations from 1861 forward, with abstracts from 1980 forward. It also provides citations and abstracts for masters theses from 1988 forward.

Full text of UNLV theses and dissertations are available from 1996 to the present. Full text from all other institutions available are from 1997 to the present. Copies of many older dissertations can be ordered for a fee.

Search tips:

  • When searching for authors it is best to enter last name first. When using basic search, if you have difficulty finding an author, click on more search options near the bottom of the page. Type the author's last name into the box labeled authors and then click on look up authors. This will bring up a list of all authors in the database with that last name to select from. When you find the author you are looking for, click on add to search.

  • If you're searching for a specific phrase, place your phrase in quotation marks (" "). This lets the search software know that you're looking for documents where the words appear exactly in that order.

  • The * symbol is a right hand truncation symbol. For example econom* will find economics, economical, and economy. The ? can be used to replace any one letter either inside a word or at the end of a word. For example t?re will find tire, tore, tyre, etc.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter D and select Dissertations and Theses.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTNiMGYmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=17675

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 3:06 PM |

    Culturegrams

    Culturegrams World Edition: Cultural reports for 187 countries and territories, each including 25 categories such as land and climate, history, personal appearance, greetings, gestures, family, diet, holidays, economy, education, health, and events and trends. The Kids edition and the States edition are aimed at children and provide information at a children's level.

    Search tips:

  • To find country information select the World Edition box and click on the map to find your country or type the name of the country in the search box located near the top of the page.

  • To hear the national anthem, go to the country page and click on the link in the middle of the page.

  • To view data, click on the World Edition box and select graphs and tables from the blue bar along the top of the page. You can create your own tables and graphs--just select the countries and categories that interest you. Up to four graphs can be generated at one time. You can choose to download your tables as CSV (comma separated value) files, which are compatible with Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs. The majority of data comes from the Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme, or the CIA World Factbook. Statistics from other sources (such as a government ministry) may be used on occasion.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Culturegrams.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://online.culturegrams.com

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 2:51 PM |

    CQ Electronic Library

    This resource provides access to the CQ Public Affairs Collection of primary sources, statistical overviews, and in-depth reporting on public policy; the CQ Researcher database of reporting and analysis of issues in the news; and CQ Weekly, which covers the United States Congress. These sources can be searched together or separately. The electronic library provides an excellent reference resource for research in American government, politics, history, public policy, and current affairs.

    Search tips:

  • For the best search results, select advanced search. To narrow your search results select "search titles only." For example a search on abortion without narrowing the results will retrieve 1000 documents, narrowing will reduce it by more than half.

  • Another way to narrow search results further is to select search-specific topics. Using the specific topic search for social issues and policies with our abortion search from above narrows the results by half again.

  • To narrow the results even further, select some specific document types to add to the search above. Selecting floor vote, facts & figures, CQ Researcher and Primary Source narrowed our search down to 12 items.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select CQ Electronic Library.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.cqel.com

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 2:43 PM |

    Conference Board Research

    A searchable database of full-text research reports on the latest issues in business management and U.S. and global economics. Proprietary, nonbiased research includes studies of Fortune 500 companies on business trends, leadership decisions, performance excellence, corporate governance, HR, productivity, CRM, and more. Economics material includes topline U.S. and global economic indicators, and analysis and forecasts of U.S. and international economic conditions by the Conference Board's chief economist.

    Search tips:

  • Enclose search words in "double quotes" or separate words with: AND, OR, AND NOT. For example:
    sustainable AND development or "sustainable development" matches both words.
    Economy OR Economics will match either of the words.
    Internet AND NOT html will match the first word but exclude results where it is associated with the second word.

  • To print one or more pages from a Conference Board publication, click on the Print button in the Acrobat toolbar. Acrobat launches a print options dialog box. For best results, check the boxes next to "Print as image" and "Fit to page." To minimize printing time, be sure to specify which pages to print; otherwise the entire report will be printed, which could be very time consuming.

  • Use an asterisk to replace any number of characters. Example: A search for inte* would find INTEGRAL, INTEGRITY, and INTERWOVEN.

  • Use a question mark as a single character wild card. Example: A search for ?ar?et would find CARPET and TARGET.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Conference Board Research.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.conference-board.org/ea/index.cfm

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 2:38 PM |

    Columbia Granger's World of Poetry

    Reprints the full text of many poems and indexes hundreds of poetry anthologies. Includes biographical information about poets and some commentary on well-known poems, as well as a glossary, a subject index, and indexes of first and last lines. The Granger's board of consultants has reviewed all the anthologies found in Granger's Online and has designated some anthologies as either "Recommended" or "Highly Recommended." It is possible to only search these anthologies. It is also possible to use audio files to hear the poems read with the Listening Room feature.

    Search tips:

  • Use the bar across the top of the page to access the search options. The Quick Search and Advanced Search options only search the poems. To search for biographies, click on the Biographies tab. To search for criticism click on the history and criticism tab.

  • Words in Poem searching is available through the advanced search option only. Select words in full text from the advanced search page.

  • If you want to see American women poets from the 17th century through to the 21st, you should press down the control key on your keyboard as you select "American Poetry: 17th and 18th Centuries"; "America Poetry: 19th Century"; and "American Poetry: 20th and 21st Centuries." Use the control key on your keyboard whenever you want to select multiple categories within the same selection box. If you wish to see only poems with full text in your search results, click on "Only Poems with Text" at the bottom of the page.

  • To browse the Subject Index in sections, select the Subject Index and enter a letter of the alphabet in the search term box. Click on Start Search to see a list of all subjects that begin with that letter.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Columbia Granger's World of Poetry.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.columbiagrangers.org


    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 2:20 PM |

    College Source

    College Source is a searchable image database of college catalogs, both graduate and undergraduate for United States two year and four year accredited colleges. It also covers many international schools. In all, 33,688 institutions of higher learning worldwide are covered. It is possible to search College Source by major, enrollment, degrees offered, affiliation, tuition, and state.

    Search tips:

  • To search using more than one limit, select Criteria search under the advanced search feature. This will allow you to search by major, degree offered, state, tuition, and enrollment all in one search.

  • To search for international schools, select Country Search from the advanced search link. Lists of international schools are available with links to most college websites. Click on the PDF symbol when available to get a catalog. Catalogs are only available for English speaking institutions in most cases.

  • Use a catalog full-text search under the advanced search link to find information within specific catalogs, for example a faculty name. Use quotation marks around phrases for more exact searches.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select College Source.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.collegesource.org/home.asp

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 2:08 PM |

    Cochrane Library

    The Cochrane Library is a collection of evidence-based medical databases. They are put together by clinicians, consumers, and researchers from around the world. It is a resource that can be used to support health care decisions, create care plans, and inform people receiving care. Among the titles included are the Cochrane database of systematic reviews and the Cochrane database of methodology reviews.

    Search tips:

  • Using the browse feature to browse reviews allows you to access articles through an alphabetic listing of the contents of each database. This is only useful if you want an overview of the conditions covered in each database.

  • Use the search box on the first page to do a simple search. To assure proximity of terms, use quotation marks around the phrase you want to search. Searching back pain will search the words back and pain in any order and not necessarily next to each other. Searching "back pain" will look for the exact phrase.

  • Because the Cochrane Library is a full-text database, retrieval can be very large and include many references that aren't really relevant. This usually happens if you choose to search all text. One way to restrict retrieval is to use the drop down menu and select record title. This will restrict the search to only the record title, which contains the main emphasis of the article. It is also possible to restrict the search to only the title, abstract, and keywords.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Cochrane Library.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.thecochranelibrary.com

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 2:03 PM |

    Children's Literature Comprehensive Database

    The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD) is a research and reference service including:

  • over 200,000 reviews of children's books from 33 review sources (all full-text searchable)
  • over 33,000 book jacket images
  • over 60,000 links to web pages featuring individual authors or illustrators
  • information provided by various Reading Measurement Programs such as Accelerated Reader, Degrees of Reading Power, Lexile and Reading Counts.

    Search tips:

  • To initiate a search, the simplest approach is to enter one or more words into the Word Search field and click the SEARCH button. The best search strategy, generally speaking, is to enter a short phrase that represents a specific concept (e.g., days of the week). Alternately, you may wish to type in one or more terms that are commonly associated with the subject.

  • A single term, if it is not too common, frequently will produce good search results. However, a search using a common term such as "dogs" will return a large number of records. To narrow such a search, include another term related to the specific concept you are interested in (such as "hunting").

  • The word search, by default, includes both singular and plural forms of the search words entered. The word search can be made narrower by limiting the search to the exact words as entered, or to the exact phrase as entered. Alternately, the word search can be made broader by including word variants generated by a word stemmer and a table of synonyms. Click the radio button for the specific option desired, or accept the default.

  • The results of a search are first presented in the brief format, which provides a short list of matching records with up to 20 items per display page. The title of the item, its publication date, author, illustrator, and classification are displayed and the results are presented in relevance order as determined by the search engine. Click on the hypertext link on the brief display to view the full display for that item. The total number of items found by the search is shown at the top of the display. The full display also provides hypertext links based on:

    subject headings
    author names
    illustrator names
    awards
    prizes
    reading lists
    reviewer names

    These can all be used to automatically generate new lists of all works with a particular subject term, author, etc.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Children's Literature Comprehensive Database.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://clcd.odyssi.com/member/csearch.htm


    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 1:55 PM |

    Child Development and Adolescent Studies

    This database contains references to the current and historical literature related to growth and development of children through the age of 21. The database includes all issues of Child Development Abstracts & Bibliography from 1927-2001, in addition to new coverage on child rights & welfare issues. Included are book reviews, journal abstracts, and a bibliography of technical reports, theses & dissertations, and book chapters.

    Search tips:

  • To limit retrieval to journal articles that have electronic full text available, click in the check box for linked full text.

  • To select only some of the citations from your search, save them to a folder. To do this, click on the words add to folder next to the picture of a folder in the citation you want to save. Click on the folder icon at the top of the page to view, print or export your saved citations.

  • To create an account to save your search results in to come back to in a future session, click on Sign in to My EbscoHost on the blue bar at the top of the page. Then select I'm a New User and create an account. This allows you to save search results to be used later to create bibliographies etc.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter C and select Child Development and Adolescent Studies.

    Quick link:


    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=fgh

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 30, 2009 1:46 PM |

    July 29, 2009

    Book Review Digest Plus

    With coverage back to 1983, Book Review Digest Plus provides citations and excerpts of reviews of current English-language fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults. An abstract of each book is also provided.

    To be indexed in Book Review Digest:

    A book must have been published or distributed in the United States or Canada.

    A work of nonfiction must have received reviews in two or more of the periodicals on the Book Review Digest selection list.

    A work of fiction must have received reviews in at least three of the periodicals.

    Reviews of textbooks, government publications, and technical books in law and the sciences are excluded.

    Search tips:

  • To begin your search, select Book Review Digest from the database selection area at the top of the page.

  • If you are uncertain as to how an author's name may be listed, click on Browse on the bar at the top of the page, use the drop down menu to select author, personal and type in the author's last name. From the search results page, click in the box by any authors you are interested in searching and click on selected entries at the bottom of the page.

  • Another option for finding a review of a specific book is to search by title. To do this, type in the title in the search box and select title from the As drop down menu.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select Book Review Digest Plus.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://hwwilsonweb.com/

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 29, 2009 3:40 PM |

    Black Drama, 1850 to Present

    Read or search the full text of 1,200 plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by more than 200 playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries. Each play is extensively and deeply indexed, allowing both keyword and multi-fielded searching. The plays are accompanied by reference materials, significant ancillary information, and a rich performance database. These materials include information on related productions, theaters, production companies, and more. The database also includes selected playbills, production photographs, and other ephemera related to the plays

    Search tips:

  • A good way to start searching Black Drama is by using the browse search function by either authors or plays. These searches will give an alphabetical listing of everything in the database.

  • To search for lists of plays that fit a certain criteria, use theFind categories such as authors, plays, characters, etc. These searches will return a list of plays meeting the search criteria.

  • To search within the text of a play for specific words, use the Search categories of Simple Search and Multi-field Search.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select Black Drama, 1850 to Present.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/bldrlive/


    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 29, 2009 3:32 PM |

    BioOne

    BioOne is a collaborative effort among scientific societies, libraries, the commercial sector, and academe to provide online access to high-impact journals in biology, ecology, and environmental sciences. Most of the content is published by small societies and non-commercial publishers and hasn't previously been available electronically. It now has 87 journals available, with coverage for most journals from the year 2000 forward. It is possible to browse individual titles or search all of the journals at once.

    Search tips:

  • The search engine automatically determines a word's stem and uses it to make searches more inclusive and faster. Thus, different queries that contain the same stem give the same results-for example, searches for figure, figures, figured, and figuring have the same results as a search for figur.

  • Two wildcard characters are available-the question mark (?) and the asterisk (*). The "?" stands for any character and may appear anywhere in the search string except at the start of a word. The "*" stands for zero or more characters and must appear at the end of a word. No word used in a query may start with a wildcard. Wildcards do not work inside phrases enclosed in quotation marks.

    b?nd finds bond, bend, band, and bind, as well as their plurals and "-ing" forms (because of stemming; see above)
    19?? finds numbers from 1900 to 1999, as well as 19th
    ana* finds anacoluthon, analogy, anaphora, and so on
    *ism (fails because it begins with a wildcard)
    verse ? (fails because the second "word" begins with a wildcard)
    "inter* studies" (fails because the wildcard is used in a phrase enclosed in quotation marks)

  • Phrases to be treated as single search items must be entered in double quotation marks.

    "modern poetry" finds articles in which the two words appear as a phrase
    modern poetry
    finds articles that contain both words, apart or together

    Certain common words, such as "the," "and," "or," and "in," are ignored whether enclosed in quotation marks or not.

    Where is it:

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select BioOne.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.bioone.org

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 29, 2009 3:19 PM |

    July 28, 2009

    Biography Resource Center

    Biography Resource Center provides biographical information on more than 185,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It contains approximately 250,000 biographies and complete articles from nearly 250 periodicals. Search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death years and places, nationality, ethnicity, occupation, or gender, or combine criteria to create a highly-targeted custom search path.

    Search tips:

    If, for example, you are given an assignment to write on a female engineer you can find one using Biography Resource Center. Select Biographical Fact Search and within in it search by occupation and gender to get a list of women engineers covered in the database.

    Find an exact phrase with the help of the W operator. You can narrow your searches by requiring that the search terms appear as a phrase in the order that you typed them. For example, if you are looking for time travel, search for these words as a phrase, time W1 travel. (It literally means find time "within 1 word of" travel.)

    A hyphen (-) used between two words is considered part of the term. If you are searching for a name that normally contains a hyphen, include the hyphen.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter B and select Biography Resource Center.

    Quick link:
    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/unlv_main?db=BioRC


    Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 28, 2009 2:55 PM |

    Associations Unlimited

    Contains information for approximately 460,000 international and U.S. national, regional, state, and local nonprofit membership organizations in all fields, including IRS data on U.S. 501(c) nonprofit organizations. These nonprofit organizations include charitable organizations, benevolent life insurance associations, civic leagues, libraries, museums, social clubs, legal service associations, child care organizations, zoos and foundations.

    For some 2,600 major U.S. national associations, it provides images of association materials such as brochures, pamphlets, and membership application forms.

    Search tips:

  • The use of double quotes (" ") around a phrase may be used to make the search results more precise. Use of double quotes yields entries in which the words appear adjacent to one another and in the exact order in which you typed them. For example, searching for the phrase Foreign Exchange yields any entries that contain both words. Using double quotes around the phrase "Foreign Exchange" yields any entry that contains the exact phrase. When a period (.) is integral to a search term, it is best to enclose the term in double quotes, for example "St. Louis" or "Ford Motor Co."

  • You can limit your subject search by choosing one module of the database to search. You can do this by clicking on the appropriate box in the dark blue band near the top of the page where it says Select Module. The modules are National, International or Regional, State, or Local. The default search searches all three modules. This search is useful in finding local affiliate chapters of a national organization.

  • Another way to limit a subject search is to select a broad subject category to search. You can do this under Subject/Any word search by using the drop down box labeled subject category. Categories include cultural organizations, educational organizations, and social welfare organizations.

    Where is it :
    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select Associations Unlimited.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/unlv_main?db=AU

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 28, 2009 2:42 PM |

    Asian American Drama

    Asian American Drama brings together more than 250 plays, along with related biographical, production, and theatrical information.

    The collection begins with the works of Sadakichi Hartmann in the late nineteenth century and is planned to include contemporary playwrights such as Philip Kan Gotanda, Elizabeth Wong, and Jeannie Barroga.

    In the late nineteenth century, when Asian American drama made its debut, the emphasis was on the lives and struggles of Asians in North America, rather than on the cultures and traditions of the Asian homeland. Today, Asian American playwrights continue to challenge established theatrical conventions by calling attention to issues and experiences that might otherwise be ignored or marginalized. The plays have relevance well beyond the study of literature, drama, and Asian American studies. They present views of important historical events, such as the construction of the railroads in the nineteenth century, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and the Vietnam conflict. The plays also address sociological issues, such as assimilation, integration, and cultural identity in a Western context.

    Search tips:

  • A good way to start searching Asian American Drama is by using the browse search function by either authors or plays. These searches will give an alphabetical listing of everything in the database.


  • To search for lists of plays that fit a certain criteria, use the find categories such as authors, plays, characters, etc. These searches will return a list of plays meeting the search criteria.


  • To search within the text of a play for specific words use the search categories of simple search and multi-field search.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select Asian American Drama.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/aadrlive/

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 28, 2009 2:35 PM |

    ARTstor

    ARTstor is a non-profit initiative, founded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with a mission to use digital technology to enhance scholarship, teaching and learning in the arts and associated fields. The ARTstor Digital Library Charter Collection is: A repository of hundreds of thousands of digital images and related data; the tools to actively use those images; and a restricted usage environment that seeks to balance the rights of content providers with the needs and interests of content users.

    Search tips:

  • Establish an account the first time you use ARTstor. First click on launch and then click on the phrase on the top left hand portion of the page immediately below that text that says "Thank you for using ARTstor.

  • You can find the images you want to put into a group by searching or browsing to display images on the thumbnail page. Select the images for your group by single-clicking on the thumbnail of each image you want to include. As you select images, the thumbnails will become highlighted in yellow. After selecting images, click on the image groups toolbar button. The resulting drop-down menu will display two options for saving images: "Save selected images to new group" or "Append selected images to existing group." Use the first option to create a new group with the images that you have selected. Choose the second to add selections to a group that you have already created.

  • You can reorder images in ARTstor by dragging them and dropping them using the mouse.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select ARTstor.


    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.artstor.org

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 28, 2009 2:28 PM |

    Academic Search Premier

    Academic Search Premier is a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary database with access to full-text academic journals, magazines, reports, trade publications and other valuable resources. The database, available through the EBSCOhost search software, offers information in nearly every area of academic study. It contains indexing and abstracts for over 8,450 journals, with full text for more than 4,650 of those titles. PDF backfiles to 1975 or further are available for well over one hundred journals, and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.

    Search tips:


    • The Basic and Advanced Search Screens let you create a Boolean search with operators such as AND, OR and NOT. These searches are not designed to yield significant results if you enter long phrases or questions in everyday English. Academic Search Premier doesn't work like Google, keep your searches short, include only important terms and avoid terms like in, of, with etc.

    • The wildcard is represented by a question mark ? or a pound sign #. To use the ? wildcard, enter your search terms and replace each unknown character with a ?. EBSCOhost finds all citations of that word with the ? replaced by a letter.
      For example, type ne?t to find all citations containing neat, nest or next. EBSCOhost does not find net because the wildcard replaces a single character.

      To use the # wildcard, enter your search terms, adding the # in places where an alternate spelling may contain an extra character. EBSCOhost finds all citations of the word that appear with or without the extra character. For example, type colo#r to find all citations containing color or colour.

      Truncation is represented by an asterisk (*). To use truncation, enter the root of a search term and replace the ending with an *. EBSCOhost finds all forms of that word.
      For example, type comput* to find the words computer or computing.

      Note: The Truncation symbol (*) may also be used between words to match any word.

      For example, a midsummer * dream will return results that contain the exact phrase, a midsummer night's dream


    • You can set up a personal account that can be used to save search results, presistent links to searches, saved searches, search alerts, journal alerts and web pages to your personal folder.

      To set up a personal account select Sign In to My EBSCOhost at the top of the screen. Then select I'm a new user. The Create a New Account Screen appears with Personal Account entered in the Account Type field. Fill in the fields on the Create a New Account Screen. When you have completed the fields, click Submit. If all the information was accepted, a message appears that provides your user name and password. Click OK. You will be automatically logged in as a personal user. You should note the user name and password you created so you can log in at a future session.


    Where is it:

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on the link at the bottom of the box labeled Academic Search Premier.

    Quick link:
    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=aph

    Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 28, 2009 1:32 PM |

    July 22, 2009

    Anthropology Plus

    Anthropology Plus is an international index of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies.

    This database combines the Anthropological Literature index from the Tozzer Library, Harvard University and the Anthropological Literature index from the Royal Anthropological Institute in the UK.

    The index offers excellent coverage of all core periodicals in the field in addition to local and lesser-known journals. Coverage is from the late 19th century to the present.

    Search tips:

  • Truncation allows you to search for a term and its variations by entering a minimum of the first three letters of the term followed by an asterisk *. For example, securit* retrieves records that contain security, securities, securitization, etc. Truncation is only allowed after the third character.

  • Wildcards are used to represent from zero to nine additional characters in a search term. They are useful when you are unsure of spelling, when there are alternate spellings, or when you only know part of a term. FirstSearch recognizes two wildcards.

    A pound sign # represents a single character.

    A question mark ?, alone or with a number, represents from zero to nine additional characters. Include a number if you know the maximum number of characters the wildcard will replace. Otherwise, use the question mark ? alone to represent any number of characters within a single term, including no additional characters. Wildcards can only be used after the third character of a term.

  • To search for a word and its plural form, add a plus sign + to the singular form. The plus + will search for any plural formed with either -s or -es. For example, giraffe+ retrieves all records that contain giraffe and giraffes.

    To search for the plural of words that change form, such as mouse or story, search for both forms and combine them with the Boolean operator OR. For example, to retrieve mouse and its plural, search for mouse OR mice.


    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select Anthropology Plus.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://firstsearch.oclc.org/fsip?dbname=AnthropologyPlus&autho=100323747

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 22, 2009 3:15 PM |

    Annual Reviews

    Since 1932, Annual Reviews has offered comprehensive, timely collections of critical reviews written by leading scientists. Annual Reviews volumes are published yearly for 32 focused disciplines within the Biomedical, Physical, and Social Sciences.

    Each year, Annual Reviews critically reviews the most significant primary research literature to help researchers keep up to date. Distinguished researchers and editors synthesize and filter the vast amount of primary research in specific disciplines to create a guide to the principal contributions within the field.

    Annual Reviews are among the most highly cited publications indexed by the Institute for Scientific Information's Journal Citation Report.

    Search tips:

  • If you wish to search all reviews, not just those in a specific discipline, click on the word go located in the upper right hand portion of the page. On the next page click on search. At this point you can choose to search all the annual reviews or only those in a specific discipline.

  • You can further narrow your search by executing a new search within the results list of your prior search. This iterative search technique obtains a more manageable number of more relevant results. For example, if you searched for 'blood cells' and found 8981 matches, you could then refine your search within those 8981 results by entering the criterion ' red NOT white' in the Search Within Results box. Use the Search Within Results box on the right-hand side of your search results list to restrict your search to articles already in the list. You can use the same delimiters and syntax used in the Simple Search.

  • With the Advanced Search you can choose how to view the results of a performed search. You can order the results by date or by relevancy, display snippets or not, and determine how many results you wish to have displayed on a page. Snippets are sentences from the abstract or article that help you to know in more detail what the found article is about.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select Annual Reviews.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/search/advanced

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 22, 2009 3:09 PM |

    Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL)

    The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) lists monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews, and collections of essays published anywhere in the world. Unpublished doctoral dissertations are covered for the period 1920-1999.

    The bibliography consists of 78 volumes, beginning in 1920 and issued annually; a number of items published between 1892 and 1919 have been indexed retrospectively. Subject areas covered by ABELL include:

  • English language - syntax, phonology, lexicology, semantics, stylistics, and dialectology
  • English literature - poetry, prose, fiction, films, biography, travel writing, literary theory, and studies of individual authors
  • Bibliography - manuscript studies, textual studies, and the history of publishing
  • Traditional culture of the English-speaking world - custom, belief, narrative, song, dance, and material culture

    Search tips:

  • From the Search page, you can find material by using one or a combination of the search boxes. If you need help deciding what to enter into a search box, you can click the relevant Select from a list > link. This displays a list of appropriate terms for you to select, which then transfers you back to the relevant search box when you click Select.

  • To search for a subject, enter a description of the subject in the Subject box and click the Search button. You must enter full personal names in the format last name, first name (e.g. Shakespeare, William).

  • To check for the full text of an article, click the Get Text button at the bottom of the citation and follow the links to either electronic text or to the library's catalog to check for availability. Some items do not have a Get Text button; these items the library definitely does not own.


    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select Annual Bibliography of English Language & Literature.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://collections.chadwyck.com/initCritRefSearch.do?listType=abell&initialise=abell

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 22, 2009 2:35 PM |

    American Periodicals Series Online

    Search the full text and view digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century. Published between 1741 and 1900, the more than 1,100 titles include Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine, the first American professional journals, children's magazines and several popular magazines still in publication, such as Vanity Fair, Harper's, and Ladies' Home Journal.

    Search tips:

  • Select search for periodicals from the initial search screen if you wish to browse entire issues of periodicals. If you wish to search the content of periodicals, select search for articles.
  • 500 of the 1100 titles covered have hit term highlighting. For these titles, the terms you searched on will be highlighted in yellow. Otherwise, keep in mind that a keyword search searches the full text of an article and you may have to read a long article to find names and other search terms.
  • It is possible to limit your search to these specific types of content: letter, statistics, obituary, recipe, and poetry. The most recently scanned content can also be limited to: ad, comic, editorial cartoon, illustration, photograph and review. To do this select more search options at the bottom of the search screen. Select from the drop down box for document type.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select American Periodicals Series Online.

    Quick link:
    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTE0NGQmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=17675

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 22, 2009 2:27 PM |

    American History and Culture Online Sabin Americana

    Full page images of works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900s. These books, pamphlets, serials, and other documents provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions, and much more. The database includes over six million pages from 29,000 works.

    Search tips:

  • To do the most precise search, select Advanced Search from the bar across the top of the page. This search allows you to search any combination of keyword, subject, author, title, full text, person as subject, front matter, main text, indexes, publisher, place of publication, and source library.

  • A Basic Search will allow you to search only one field at a time. The fields searchable using the basic search feature are full text, author, subject, keyword, and title.

  • There are three truncation characters that can be used when searching this database:

    1. The * (standing for any number of characters) is placed at the end of the term's root. The search retrieves all words sharing the same root. For example, the term faith* retrieves works that contain the words faith, faithful, or faiths.
    2. The ? is used to replace exactly one character within a word to retrieve various forms of that word. For example, the term wom?n retrieves works that contain either woman or women; and psych????y matches either psychology or psychiatry but not psychotherapy.
    3. The ! stands for one or no characters. For example, analo!! matches analog, analogs, and analogue but not analogous.

  • Find an exact phrase with the help of the W operator. You can narrow your searches by requiring that the search terms appear as a phrase in the order that you typed them. For example, when looking for works that discuss European travel, search for these words as a phrase, European W1 travel (This literally means find European "within 1 word of" travel.) This narrows the results from hundreds of matches to a few dozen matches, assuming the phrase typed is not too common.


    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter A and select American History and Culture Online Sabin Americana.

    Quick link:

    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/Sabin?locID=unlv_main

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 22, 2009 2:14 PM |

    July 21, 2009

    American Film Scripts Online

    American Film Scripts Online contains 1009 scripts by 1062 writers together with detailed, fielded information on the scenes, characters and writers related to the scripts. Most have never been published in any format, and about half appear as facsimile.

    Search tips:

  • For a quick search use the browse feature in the search bar. With this search you can get an alphabetical list of each entry in the database by either writer's name, script title, year released, character name, subject of script or people associated with the script including writers, directors, actors and producers.

  • By using the find feature in the search bar, you can criteria search writers, scripts, scenes and characters. For example you can search the database for writers that have won the academy award or those of a certain race.

  • To search within the text of scripts select full text search from the search bar. You can select either a simple search or an advanced search. An advanced search provides the capability of searching more fields and for proximity searching within sentences or paragraphs.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter F and select American Film Scripts Online.

    Quick link:
    http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://www.alexanderstreet2.com/afsolive

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 21, 2009 3:23 PM |

    LexisNexis Primary Sources in African American History

    One of the LexisNexis Primary Sources in U.S. History databases, Primary Sources in African American History provides the full text of both primary and secondary source material relating to the African American experience, including important events such as the Black Power movement, the civil rights movement, and slavery. Included are autobiographies, case law and statutes, government publications, photographs, reference and scholarly articles, speeches, and excerpts from manuscript collections such as the files of the NAACP, and the White House civil rights files of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

    Search tips:

  • To get the most accurate subject search, click on the subject list to the right of the subject search box. Once you find your search term, click in the check box next to it and click on Paste to search at the top of the page.

  • To restrict your search to the African American collection click on Primary Sources in African American History in the box labeled collection.

  • To further narrow your search you can also limit by document type such as photograph, case law, or manuscript. To select more than one document type--but not all--press the control key down while clicking on the item. It is also possible to restrict your search to a particular time period by using the drop down date search box or by entering a specific date range.


    Where is it:

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter L and select LexisNexis Primary Sources in African American History.

    Quick link: http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://cisweb.lexis-nexis.com/histuniv/

    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 21, 2009 3:15 PM |

    Gerritsen Collection - Women's History Online (1543-1945)

    In the late 1800s, Dutch physician Aletta Jacobs and her husband C.V. Gerritsen began collecting books, pamphlets, and periodicals reflecting the evolution of a feminist consciousness and the movement for women's rights. The Gerritsen Collection has since become the greatest single source for the study of women's history. This database contains full-text publications reflecting the evolution of a feminist consciousness and the movement for women's rights from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, dating from 1543-1945.

    The Periodical Series contains complete runs of magazines and newspapers mainly from 1860-1900; the Monograph Language Series offers over 4000 books and pamphlets in English (over 2000 titles), German, French, and other languages. Non-English-language books are summarized in English.

    Search tips:

  • If you want to search for a particular phrase, place quotation marks around all the words that make up the phrase. For example, "cotton weaving".

  • To search for a subject, enter a subject into the Subject box, or choose the subject you want from the Select from a list page. Click the Search button.

  • You can choose the order in which records are sorted in the search results by using the sort results drop-down list; click the arrow to the right of the box and choose the relevant option from the list that appears. You can choose to sort your results by: relevance, alphabetically by author, alphabetically by title, oldest record first, and most recent record first.

    Where is it :

    Go to the UNLV Libraries' home page http://www.library.unlv.edu. Select the Journal Articles tab, click on A-Z list of databases and then on the letter G and select Gerritsen Collection - Women's History Online.

    Quick link: http://ezproxy.library.unlv.edu/login?url=http://gerritsen.chadwyck.com


    • Posted by Shelley Heaton on July 21, 2009 2:19 PM |

     

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