Library Guides: HST 498: U.S. Political History since 1945: Secondary Sources

Secondary Sources

America: History & Life
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
History Reference Center
Comprehensive history reference database offering full text reference books, encyclopedias, non-fiction books, and leading history periodicals. Also includes historical documents, biographies, historical photos and maps, and historical video.
JSTOR

Includes journal content, primary sources, images, and more across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences.
Beginning August 1, 2024 Artstor's content is now accessed on JSTOR.
Political Science Complete
Provides full text, indexing, and abstracts for journals in the field of political science, including those of the International Political Science Association.
SocINDEX with Full Text
Offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study.
Statista

Statista is one of the leading statistics companies on the internet. With a team of over 200 statisticians, database experts, analysts, and editors, Statista provides users with an innovative and intuitive tool for researching quantitative data, statistics and related information.
This database includes an AI powered tool. For more information see the Statista Research AI information page.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
The ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.

Dissertations & Theses Global

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Each year hundreds of thousands of works are added. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637.
This database includes an AI powered tool. For more information see the ProQuest Research Assistant FAQ.

Research Tips for Finding More Secondary Sources

Keyword searching is the most common strategy for finding secondary sources. However, you should not rely on keyword searches alone. There are number of other strategies that you can utilize to cast a wider research net. Incorporating the additional research strategies listed below may help you find sources that traditional keyword searching missed.

Mine the footnotes and bibliography of the secondary sources you already have (backward citation searching).
Use the "cited by" feature on Google Scholar to find new secondary sources you may have missed (forward citation searching).
Use multiple academic databases; DO NOT rely on just one (indexing and discoverability).
Use boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) when searching academic databases.
When searching the library catalog, use the subject heading hyperlinks within each book record to find other books with the same "tag."
When retrieving books from the stacks, browse the books nearby to find additional titles (academic libraries are organized by subject).