Using Historical Abstracts

 DESCRIPTION | SEARCHING | LIMITING | VIEWING | TAGGING RECORDS | PRINTING, DOWNLOADING, E-MAILING | RELATED DATABASES | SEARCH THIS DATABASE

 WHAT IS HISTORICAL ABSTRACTS?

    Historical Abstracts contains annotated references to historical writings (journals, dissertations & books) covering the years 1450 to the present. Over 499,000 entries from more than 50 languages are included. Historical Abstracts excludes the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life.

    To check the availability of an article, use the Find It service.

SEARCHING IN HISTORICAL ABSTRACTS

 Entering your Search Terms

  • The database defaults to put you into a Basic Search. 
    1. A Keyword search lets you do a broad, free-text search of the database and searches Titles, Abstracts and Subject Terms.
    2. A Subject search searches ONLY terms in the Subject field. These are terms selected by editors describing the content of each entry.
      1. TIP: to search for articles about a person, search them last name first, for example: "parks rosa" - with NO COMMA.
      2. TIP: click on the small book icon to browse the list of official Subjects and add to your search
    3. Press the Search button to run your search.
LIMITING YOUR SEARCHES
  • On the Basic Search screen you may limit your search to certain types of documents using the check boxes below the text entry boxes. For example, if you are not interested in book reviews, choose all other document types except Book Reviews.
  • Select Advanced Search to access additional options such as:
  • Limiting by Time Period:
    • To search a particular time period you define a search by hundreds (centuries) and decades. Enter one or more round-number dates, each followed by either H (for hundreds [centuries]) or D (for decades).
    • EXAMPLE: 1800H OR 1900H 
      RESULTS:       Entries dealing with the eighteen or nineteen hundreds (1800-1999).
    • EXAMPLE: 1820D 1830D 1840D 
      RESULTS:       Entries dealing with the 1820's, 1830's, and 1840's (1820-1849). It assumes you want articles in which all three are discussed or covered. For entries dealing with the 1820's, 1830's, or 1840's, use the OR operator between each search term.
  • Limiting by Language of Publication
    • Limit your search to only English language publications by entering 'english' in the Language search box.
    •  
  • TIPS:
  • You may connect search terms in a field using AND or OR. Connecting terms with AND tells the system both words must appear in the search field. Connecting terms with OR tells the system either of the terms may appear.
    •  
  •  Use wildcards (* AND ?) to replace letters.
    • For Example: immigra* will find immigrants and immigration. Wom?n will find woman and women.
  • For a description of a search field, and to see search examples, roll your mouse over the field name to the right of the text entry box.

Viewing Results

    1. Records in America: History & Life are initially displayed in Short Entry (or "collapsed") format and include
       Type
      Author
      Article Title
      and Citation (including Journal title, publication date, volume, issue and page numbers). 

    2. Click the [ Expand Record ] link to see the Full Entry, which includes an abstract of the item, time period(s) covered, and subjects assigned.

    3. Click the [ Collapse Record ] link to return to the Short Entry display.

Tagging Records to Retrieve Later

    1. You can tag records in Expanded or Collapsed format.
    2. Click in the check-box to the left of the word Tagged to tag a record for future retrieval.
    3. Click the View Tagged Only link to see only your tagged results. Return to the complete list of results by clicking on the View All Records link.
Printing - Downloading - E-mailing Results
    1. Click the [ Export Options ] link to see your delivery options.
    2. Select either Short Entry or Full Entry format by clicking in the circle to the left of the appropriate selection.
    3. Select either All Entries or Tagged Entries by clicking in the circle to the left of the appropriate selection.
    • To e-mail your results to yourself, scroll down and click in the circle to the left of E-mail in Plain Text, enter your complete e-mail address in the text entry box (i.e., jdoe@pace.edu), then click the Send button.
    • To print or download your results, under Output Type select "ASCII Display," then click the Export Records button and follow the on-screen instructions.
      • To print the list of results displayed, use the Print button at the top of the screen. Click OK at the next box.
      • To download the list of results to a disk, place your floppy disk in the computer's disk drive,
      • Click on File, then Save As..., (when in the library, browse to the appropriate drive, usually A: - or storage device location)
      • Type in a file name, no longer than 8 characters long, ending in .txt


RELATED DATABASES

See related History databases.

Remember that some general databases are very strong on this subject as well. Research Library and Academic Search Premier are two such databases.

SEARCH THIS DATABASE

Begin searching Historical Abstracts

Still need help? Ask a librarian!

Birnbaum Library Reference  (212) 346-1331
Mortola Library Reference (914) 773-3505
Graduate Center Library Reference (914) 422-4384

 
Created by Pace University Library
Last Revised 1/06
Sarah Burns Feyl
sburnsfeyl@pace.edu