American Studies-Locating Articles

Locating Articles

You'll find these sections on this page:

1. Online Indexes, Abstracts & Full Text

3. Scholarly vs. Popular Journals: What's the Difference?

Online Indexes, Abstracts & Full Text

While books are wonderful resources for information, they are often not the most current sources, nor are they the only sources of information. To update and expand your research it is likely that you will want to identify articles published in magazines, journals, and newspapers. This is best accomplished by consulting a subject specific index.

Using an index can be compared to flipping through hundreds of journals simultaneously. The compilers of the index have done this work for you, allowing you to simply type in your keywords, and retrieve references to articles which match your search criteria. Of course, if you want to skim through the journals yourself you can do that, but it's easier to use an index.

Most indexing services do not yet provide the full-text of the article online. After you have searched the appropriate database, you will need to search the library's online catalog (UTCAT or UTNetCat) to see if we own the periodical which contains the article you are interested in. You should be aware that UT subscribes to most but not all journals indexed by the databases below.

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Advice on Selecting an Index

Choosing the right place to begin searching can be the most important step in locating articles. The ease of computer searching can sometime fool people into thinking that all databases are the same. Unfortunately this is not true. Almost all disciplines (history, literature, music, etc...), have their own index.

The library currently subscribes to over 60 online databases, and many more are available in other formats. While some topics can be searched in a number of different databases, in most cases you will have greatest success if you select the one which focuses specifically on your area of interest.

To provide some guidance, the major online databases are listed below by broad subject. If your field is not represented try one of the general databases listed, or consult the complete list of titles available under Indexes, Abstracts and Full-Text.

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Scholarly vs. Popular Journals: What's the Difference?

Some professors may require you to only use academic or scholarly articles in your papers. Here are somes rules of thumb for telling what is scholarly, and what is popular:

Scholarly

Articles written by experts in field, usually will list author's credentials
use of a specialized language specific to the discipline. You may find many unfamiliar terms in a scholarly article.
Absence of glossy advertisements
Usually will include a bibliography; a list of resources used in researching the article (Note: the bibliography is a great way to identify other related books and articles to further your research)
Contains charts, graphs, and tables, generally not in color.

Popular

One good general rule, is that if you've heard of it before, it's probably a popular magazine. For example, Time, Newsweek, Vogue, and Sports Illustrated are all popular titles.
Articles are written in plain English, intended for the general layperson.
Articles are written by staff reporters, not by academics.
Contains lots of color photos, and glossy, color ads.
Rarely contains a bibliography of sources for further research.

When in doubt ask your professor for guidance.

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Databases for Specific Fields
Click on fields below to see the available databases.

Architecture
Art
Full-Text
General/Multidisciplinary
History
Literature
Music
Newspapers
Religion
Sociology
Television/Theater/Film

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Architecture

The main online database in the field of architecture is the Avery Index. This index contains records describing articles in over 1,000 periodicals in the field of architecture and related disciplines.

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Art Databases

Art Abstracts, 1984 - present.

Although this is not the largest, most comprehensive database, it is a good place to start general research. Indexes more than 200 key, international arts publications and provides up-to-date coverage of this multi-faceted, interdisciplinary field.

Bibliography of the History of Art, 1973 - present.

Covers European and American art from late antiquity to the present. Indexes and abstracts art-related books, conference proceedings and dissertations, exhibition and dealer's catalogs, and articles from more than 2,500 periodicals.

SCIPIO: Art and Rare Book Sale Catalogs, 1599 - present.

Consists of records for auction sales catalogs from all major North American and European auction houses as well as important private sales dating from the late sixteenth century to currently scheduled auctions that have not yet been held. Records contain information on dates and places of sale, catalog title, the auction house, sellers, institutional holdings, and other information.

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Full Text

Most indexes, even those online, do not yet offer full text of journal articles. This is especially true in the humanities and social sciences. The following databases are the exceptions to that rule. For a selected number of journals, about 40-50, the full-text is available. (Compare this with the 200-1000 journals indexed by other databases, and you will get an idea of how few journals are currently available full-text.)

JSTOR

Contains the full-text of approximately 20 journals in the fields of history, economics, and political science. Full-text is provided beginning with the first issue.

Project Muse

Full-text for the latest few years of titles published by John Hopkins University Press. Contains the full-text for over 40 titles in the humanities and social sciences.

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Other Full-Text Resources

The following items provide full-text, but will not generally be your best bets for scholarly research in American Studies. They are listed here for the sake of completeness.

LEXIS-NEXIS Dates of coverage vary.

Used appropriately LEXIS-NEXIS is a tremendous research tool. Although not strong in coverage of scholarly publications, LEXIS-NEXIS provides the full-text of hundreds of newspapers, popular magazines, law reviews, government documents, and legal opinions. LEXIS-NEXIS is best used for topics of current interest. In most cases the coverage only extends back a few years.

There are a variety of free publications available via the Internet. (Typically referred to as e-zines) To see what e-zines are available on the web consult the lists of electronic journals on the library's web page.

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General Databases

These databases index more than one subject, and can be especially useful if you are doing a search that is interdisciplinary in nature. In most cases the general databases are not as comprehensive as those which focus on only one topic. However, there are many topics where searching in Humanities Abstracts or Social Sciences Abstracts will produce sufficient relevant articles.

Biography Index, 1984 - present.

If you are looking for information on an individual this is the best online source to try. Includes references to biographical materials contained in more than 2,700 English-language periodicals and more than 1,800 books. Note: The library has other biography indexes available in print. If you do not find the person you are looking for be sure to ask a librarian for help.

Book Review Digest, 1983 - present.

Provides indexing and partial full-text of book reviews published in approximately 100 periodicals from the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain, covering over 7,000 adult and children's books each year. Includes English-language fiction and nonfiction.

CARL Uncover 1988 - present. Citations to articles and tables of contents for 17,000 journals in all subject areas. For a fee the full-text of articles on CARL can be ordered. (Be sure to check to see if the journal is available on campus before ordering). Uncover Reveal is an e-mail alert service that will email you the table of contents of journals that interest you. It will also notify you when articles match keywords you designate. There is no cost for the UnCover Reveal service for anyone with an e-mail address ending in ".utexas.edu." Sign up on the Carl Uncover web page.

Chicano Database, 1967 - present.

Contains records for all types of materials on Mexican-American topics and Chicanos. Since 1992, CDB describes material on the broader Latino experience, including Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Central American immigrants.

FRANCIS, 1984 - present.

FRANCIS is a scholarly, interdisciplinary resource. It covers a wide range of multilingual, multidisciplinary information in the humanities, social sciences, and economics. FRANCIS is strong in religion, the history of art, and literature.

Humanities Abstracts, 1984 - present.

Indexes more than 300 key humanities publications. Useful for interdisciplinary topics.

Social Sciences Abstracts, 1983 - present.

Indexes more than 350 key international, English-language periodicals in the social sciences.

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History Databases

America: History and Life, 1964 - present

[This database is available only in UT libraries on UT Library Online Stations.]

The primary database for United States history. Contains citations to scholarly literature on all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture and current affairs from prehistoric times to the present. Covers book chapters, book reviews, journals and dissertations.

Historical Abstracts, 1972 - present.

[This database is available only in UT libraries on UT Library Online Stations.]

Despite the somewhat misleading name you should *not* search this database for American Studies. Historical Abstracts excludes United States history, focusing on all other areas of the world.

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Literature Databases

Contemporary Authors , Dates of coverage vary.

This database is available only in UT libraries

A good source for basic information on authors. Covers more than 100,000 modern authors who were active prior to 1960 and whose works continue to influence contemporary literature. For each author the database provides personal data, career details, awards, honors, a bibliography of the authors works, and reference to biographical and critical sources.

LION - Web Access, dates of coverage vary.

Literature Online is a fully searchable library of over 250,000 full-text works of English and American literature. Includes several literary databases of poetry, plays and fiction as well as general reference works and links to other Internet sites.

MLA Bibliography, 1963 - present.

This database should be your first choice for most literature topics. It provides access to citations from over 3,500 journals,

series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies.

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Music Databases

Music Index , 1979 - 1996.

This database is available only in UT libraries.

Contains records describing articles in over 400 international periodicals in the field of music and related disciplines. Includes book reviews, recording andperformance reviews, and obituaries.

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1969 - present.

A more current, and comprehensive index than the Music Index. This database has over 200,000 citations for scholarly works in all formats; books, articles, conferences, dissertations, etc...

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Newspapers

Items of local or fleeting interest are often best covered by newpapers. Unfortunately they are often not included in the academic journal databases, and need to be searched separately. For current articles you can use LEXIS-NEXIS, an online database containing the full-text of articles from hundreds of regional and national newspapers.

LEXIS-NEXIS

Coverage varies, but in general only the last 5-10 years are in the database. If you need articles older than that, you'll likely have to consult a print index. Ask a librarian for help locating an index for the specific newspaper you want to search.

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Religion

The primary online database for the scholarly study of religion is the ATLA Religion Index. This index covers articles, book chapters, and essays in the field of religion, published since 1949. It is currently only available on terminals within the UT libraries.

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Sociology

The primary database for accessing scholarly research in Sociology is Sociological Abstracts. Articles in sociology and related disciplines, published after 1963 are included.

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Television/Theatre/Film

Film Index International , 1930 - present.

This database is available only in UT libraries.

Contains information about approximately 90,000 films dating back to the introduction of sound in 1930, The database also includes biographical information about 30,000 film personalities.

Inter-Play, 19th century - present. (Portland State University)

Provides an index to plays in collections, anthologies and periodicals. The call numbers cited are those assigned by the Portland State University Library, and may or may not be the same call numbers used here.

Vanderbilt Television News Archive, 1968 - present.

Since 1968 the Vanderbilt School of Communication has transcribed major news broadcasts. Their web site provides an index to these transcriptions. The archive includes national television evening news broadcasts, as well as special reports and periodic news broadcasts.

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