Subject Guide
Off-Grounds Access
Most databases are available only when you're connected to the UVa network. For off Grounds use you'll need a connection through the EZ Proxy or UVaAnywhere. More information.
Introductory/Background Information
Subject encyclopedias can provide detailed and authoritative background information that can help you to begin your research. The articles can define terms, give an overview of a topic and suggest directions for narrowing your research. They can also provide bibliographies of books and articles for more in-depth research.
Marriage, Family, and Relationships: a Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia. 1994. Clemons Library. GN 345.7 . E526 .M37 1994
Encyclopedia of Marriage and the Family. 1995. Shannon Reference. HQ 9 .E52 1995. 2 vols.
Encyclopedia of Marriage, Divorce and the Family. 1989. Brown Science and Engineering Library. HQ9 .D38 1989
Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism. 2009. Shannon Stacks. BL 1105 .B75 2009. 6 vols.
Encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. 2011. Shannon Reference. BX230 .E53 2011 2 vols.
Encyclopedia of Mormonism. 1992. Shannon Reference. BX 8605.5 .E62 1992. 5 vols.
Encyclopedia of Protestantism. 2004. Shannon Reference. BX 4911.3 .E53 2004. 4 vols.
Encyclopedia of the Reformed Faith. 1992. Shannon Reference. BX 9406 .E56 1992.
New Catholic Encyclopedia. 2nd ed., 2003. Covers all aspects of the history, doctrine, and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church.
Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd. ed. 2007. Comprehensive encyclopedia on all aspects of Jewish life, culture, history, and religion.
Encyclopaedia of Islam (Use second edition, the third is still in progress). Comprehensive encyclopedia of Islamic religion and of the culture and history of the Islamic regions.
- CQ Researcher This link opens in a new windowIn depth reports on selected issues in the news with lists of recommended books and articles.
Finding Scholarly Articles
- Journal FinderThis and Google Scholar are the best ways to track down citations. Type in the title of your journal to see which databases provide access to it in full text. (Access from the Library’s main page using the drop-down for “Also Try” beneath the VIRGO search box.)
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowLarge general database of articles from scholarly journals, magazines, and newspapers on many topics. Also includes reference books (World Almanac, American Heritage Dictionary), biographies, speeches, images, and other primary source documents.
- Periodicals Archive Online This link opens in a new windowSearch the full text of nearly 400 international humanities and social sciences journals published from 1770 to the 1990s.
- ATLA Religion Database with ATLA Serials This link opens in a new windowLists articles on all aspects of religious studies from journals in many disciplines. Includes citations to book chapters and to book reviews. ATLASerials adds the full text of many journals.
- America: History & Life (1964-present) This link opens in a new windowCovers the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to present with records from 2,000 English-language journals published worldwide. Includes book reviews.
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowFind articles about the history of the world from 1450 to the present, published in over 2,000 journals from many countries. Includes book reviews. Does not include articles about the US or Canada. For these see America: History & Life.
- SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new windowSocINDEX with Full Text offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study. These include abortion, criminology and criminal justice, demography, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, marriage and family, political sociology, religion, rural and urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse and other addictions, violence and many others.
- Anthropology Plus (1890-present) This link opens in a new windowFind articles, reports, and other materials on social, cultural, physical, biological and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture and interdisciplinary studies.
- Women's Studies International This link opens in a new windowFind journal articles, books, conference proceedings, reports, theses & dissertations, documents and other materials on all aspects of women's studies.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowProject MUSE hosts more than 800 journals and more than 90,000 books covering the humanities and social sciences from nearly 400 leading university presses, scholarly societies, and related publishers.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR provides access to millions of journal articles, books, images, and primary sources in 75 disciplines. The Archive Journal Collection is included.
API available, more information here: APIs for Scholarly Research
Finding Books and Other Primary Sources
VIRGO-- The U.Va. Library Catalog
Keyword search should be "Google-like," just enter whatever terms you want; no need for connectors like and.
Will search the title, author's name or description of the item.
There are also some Subject terms that indicate primary source materials:
Archives*
Correspondence*
Diaries*
Facsimilies
Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
Pamphlets
Personal narratives (used in relation to specific events only)
Songs and music
Sources
Speeches, addresses, etc.*
Treaties
*Used with individuals' names,classes of persons (e.g., soldiers), and organizations.
Google Books Searches the full text of thousands of books. If used in conjunction with Amazon.com full text search of a book, can get most of the text of a book.
Dissertations & Theses Global Full text (PDF) of most US dissertations from 1997 on, many earlier works and some from outside the US plus some master's theses. Also lists all dissertations and theses from 1861 on from US universities and some works from Europe and Asia from 1637 on. Abstracts included after July, 1980.
North American Women's Letters and Diaries Searchable full text database of American and Canadian women's letters and diaries written from the Colonial period through 1950.
Proquest Congressional Publications Searchable, full text collection of U.S. government documents, including treaties, laws, and Congressional reports. Use Advanced Search, and notice date coverage for different types of documents.
Newspapers and Magazines
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1991 20th century coverage for the New Orleans "Times-Picayune" (1837-1988), Cleveland "Plain Dealer" (1923-1991), and Portland "Oregonian" (1907-1987). Can limit by place.
Search = hard hat AND parade in Full Text Date Range = 1970 to 1971
ProQuest Historical Newspapers New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Pittsburgh Courier, NY Amsterdam News, Baltimore Afro-American, and Washington Post.
Advance Search = Busing AND Pontiac
Date Range = January 1, 1970 - January 1, 1979
Ethnic NewsWatch Full-text of newspaper, magazine, and journal articles from 200 ethnic, minority, and native publications in the U.S. Coverage back to 1959.
Advanced Search = textbooks AND minorities AND history Date Range = Jan. 1, 1970 - Jan. 1, 1980
Factiva Search Form allows for relatively uncomplicated precision in searching. Only database to contain the Wall Street journal (1979 only). Proquest Historical Newspapers may be better for other sources.
Periodicals Archive Online Search the full text of nearly 400 international humanities and social sciences journals published from 1770 to the 1990's.
Advanced Search = "youth values" in Article title, Jan. 1, 1970 to Jan. 1, 1980
US Newspapers in Microform Search by state, or by state and dates, to find which newspapers we have on microfilm.
Indexing of Virginia newspapers is spotty, but there is one index you can use: Richmond Times Dispatch and Richmond News Leader are indexed in the microfiche Freeman File Index for the period 1920's-1985 [located in the Periodicals/Microforms Room, Shannon 3rd Floor. Staff there can assist you.]
- Access World News This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive news collection is ideal for exploring issues and events at the local, regional, national and international level. Its diverse source types include print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. It currently contains over 9,600 sources from 160 countries.
- Time Magazine Archive This link opens in a new windowThe Time Magazine Archive consists of cover to cover processing dating back to issue number one in 1923 of the American popular magazine Time, published by Time Inc.
Images
Google Image Introduced in 2001, Google Image allows users to search the web for image content.
Search = Titanic wreck