ABC-CLIOOverview of

America: History and Life The complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present

http://serials.abc-clio.com

America:America: History and LifeHistory and Life

This guide is designed to help you:

• Familiarize yourself with the database

• Build a simple and advanced search

• Understand and use the results of your searches

America:America: History and LifeHistory and Life

• Published since 1964

• Covers over 2,000 academic journals in more than 40 languages

• Includes over 520,000 entries, with more than 22,000 new abstracts and citations of journal articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations added annually

• Full-text links to over 215,000 articles available from JSTOR, History Cooperative, University of California Press, ProjectMUSE, Oxford University Press, Taylor & Francis journals, Swets Blackwell, and Ingenta

What is America: History and Life?

• The complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present

• Links to 18 free journals including H-Net Reviews, Journal for Multimedia History, Screening the Past, North Star, and many more

America:America: History and LifeHistory and Life

• Each year, approximately 2,000 journals are screened for articles and books of interest to historians

• The database contains a selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities for use by those in other areas of study

• As each journal is screened entries are created and loaded into the database

• Full-text links from partners that include JSTOR, Project Muse and ProQuest allow users to link directly from the abstract to over 131,000 articles, book reviews, dissertations, and theses

What type of information will I find in America: History and Life?

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeThe Search Screen• There are two types of searches:

Basic and Advanced

• Basic Search contains the Keyword and Subject Term search fields

• Advanced Search contains the basic search fields as well as seven additional fields (see next slide for detail)

• To switch between the search screens, use the Advanced/Basic button on the navigation bar

• Customize the search screen by adding or removing various search fields from the screen

• Further refine your search results by limiting to a particular type of entry

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeThe Search Fields• There are a total of nine search fields to choose from:

• Keyword• Subject Term• Author/Editor• Title• Language• Journal Name• Publication Date• Time Period• Entry Number

• Roll the cursor over the name of a field for a description and examples

• Select the book icon located next to the search field to select terms for searching or as an index of terms

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeUsing the Search Fields• Do NOT use punctuation in any

search field• The Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT are available in each field

• OPERATOR: AND RESULTS: Retrieves entries containing

the first term AND the second term (The AND operator is assumed if

there are no operators placed between multiple terms in a field)

• OPERATOR: OR RESULTS: Retrieves entries containing

the first term OR the second term

• OPERATOR: NOT RESULTS: Retrieves entries that do

NOT contain the term that follows

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeUsing the Search Fields

• WILDCARD: * RESULTS: If the exact spelling of a word is unknown, insert an asterisk (*) for an indeterminate number of unknown lettersEX: Archiv* retrieves entries with the terms archive, archives, archival, etc.

• WILDCARD: ? RESULTS : If the exact spelling of a word is unknown, insert a question mark (?) for each unknown letterEX: Wom?n retrieves entries with the terms woman and women

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeUsing the Search FieldsPlease keep these hints in mind when using the search fields

• FIELD: KeywordsDEFINITION: A word or term that is located in any part of an entry. A keyword

search is the broadest type of search and results in the most entries

• FIELD: Subject TermsDEFINITION: Selected by the database

editors, these terms are directly related to the content of an entry. Each entry has

one or more subject terms associated with it. A subject search will retrieve more focused results.TIP: The index of search terms contains a list of all terms found in the database, along with the number of times it’s found in all entries. Use it to expand your search to related terms

America:America: History and LifeHistory and Life• FIELD: Author

DEFINITION: Retrieves articles by author/editor nameTIP: Enter author name, first or last, in any order. Do not include punctuationEX: John Williams retrieves all articles with John and Williams in author field including those coauthored by J. Breen and John Williams

• FIELD:Titles/TranslationsDEFINITION: Only retrieves entries in which the selected words are present in the title or title translation

• FIELD: LanguagesDEFINITION: Use this field to limit your search to entries in specific languages. A blank field will retrieve results in all languages

Using the Search Fields

America:America: History and LifeHistory and Life

• FIELD: Journal NamesDEFINITION: Retrieves entries that contain all or part of the journal titleTIP: The journal index contains a list of all journals covered in the database along with the number of entries coveredTIP: For a complete list of all journals covered in both databases, select Journal List from the navigation bar

• FIELD: Publication DatesDEFINITION: Enter a four-digit year

that corresponds to the entry’s publication date

• FIELD: Entry NumbersDEFINITION: Retrieves entries matching those in the printed version of the indexEX: 30:134 retrieves entry 134 from vol. 30

Using the Search Fields

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeUsing the Search FieldsFIELD: Time PeriodsDEFINITION: The time period field refers

to the span of time covered in the article, not to the publication date

TIP: Enter one or more round dates, followed by either an H (for Hundreds

[Centuries]) or a D (for Decades)EX: “1800H OR 1900H” retrieves any

records dealing with either the 19th or 20th centuries EX : “1900H AND 2000H” retrieves records

that cover BOTH the 20th and 21st centuriesTIP: To search for a range of dates, you

must enter each decade or century individually EX: “1900D OR 1910D OR 1920D”

will retrieve records covering 1900-1929

America:America: History and LifeHistory and Life

Running a SearchBefore running a search, use the Display Options fields to customize the results by:

• Selecting the number of entries displayed per page

• Sorting the results, in ascending or descending order, in the following fields:– Author– Date– Journal Name– Language Type

• Automatically tagging all search results for easy export

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeInterpreting Your Results• The results to your search will

automatically display as short records

• Short records include the following fields

• Type of Entry

• Author/Editor

• Entry Title

• Citation

• To expand a record, click the Expand Record link located in the lower right-hand corner of each short entry display

• Expanded Records include the following fields

• Abstract

• Time Period

• Language

• Keyword Terms

• Entry Number

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeInterpreting Your Results

• If full-text links for an entry are available, they will appear in the short entry display. To access the full-text article online, click on the link

• If full-text links are not available, use the resource links to check availability at up to two local catalogs or the online catalog of the Library of Congress

• OpenURL links and an InterLibrary Loan Request form are also available

• To email a single record, enter an email address in the “Email To” field located in each entry

• To email multiple records, see the Export Options slide

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeRefining Your SearchUse the following tips to help refine your search:• Expand the Search Details to see a step-by-step record of the search process• Use the Refine Search link on the Navigation toolbar to return to the Search Screen

• The search fields that were filled out for the current search will remain intact

• The Search History link on the Search Screen allows you to rerun previous searches (within a single search session)

• Clicking on the link will automatically rerun the search

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeExporting Your ResultsUse the export options screen to print, email, or manage select entries• First, select the type of entry to export • Next, select which entries to export • Finally, select Output Type

• Create a printer friendly version using ASCII Display

• Export to a spreadsheet by selecting Tab-Delimited Display

• Select RefWorks to export entries to an individual or institution account

• Select ProCite, EndNote, or Reference Manager to export to a citation manager

• Send your results to one or more recipients by filling in the To field with addresses (separate multiple addresses with a space)

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeClioNotesDon’t know where to begin your search? Use ClioNotes to get started

• Provides guided searching to ensure targeted results

• Organized by region and time period

• Browse chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes in world history

• Suggested research topics and easy-to-use search tools, provided within each topic area, allow you to research the entire database for articles, books, collections, and dissertations

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifePersonal Profile

Receive automatic notification of new database entries with Personal Profile

• Monthly email updates contain the short-entry displays of any new entries matching your specific search criteria

• Save up to ten different profiles

• Search America: History and Life and/or Historical Abstracts simultaneously

• Construct each alert using the Subject Terms, Author, Time Period, Language, and Document Type fields

• To ensure success with a profile, use search criteria that have proven effective for searches

• Access the profile screens via the link on the search screen

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeHelp/SupportThere are multiple places to turn within the database for help:

• Roll your mouse over the Help button in the navigation bar for a pop-up containing some quick tips

• For more detailed help, select the “User Guide” or “More Help” links within the pop-up

• You may also request email support using the links available at the bottom of every page

• For assistance with searching or to report content errors, select “Content Support"

• For site-related technical problems, select "Technical Support"

• To visit our discussion forum, select "Forum Support”

America:America: History and LifeHistory and LifeAwards and Reviews

Outstanding Academic Title 1999- CHOICE

"America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts are the standard, preeminent indexes available in historical research. (If you had any doubts about this, witness the desire of others to partner with them to gain access to their content.) So any library—public, academic, historical, or high school—that can afford these two should provide access to them."

- NetConnect

In today's marketplace, there are few bibliographic databases of which it can be said that there are no true competitors ... America: History and Life (AHL), taken with its companion database Historical Abstracts (HA), is one of these—together these two products form the largest bibliographic database currently available in the field of history ... In sum, the Web versions of both AHL and HA are highly recommended for all academic libraries."

- Electronic Resources Review