LibGuides: Social Studies Subject Guide: Modern World

Database PASSWORDS

LOGINS & PASSWORDS

Click Here for the Passwords List. You'll need to log in as a Catlin Gabel student or employee. Having trouble? Contact your division librarian.

Search Skills: The Basics

Search Skills

Brainstorm a list of keywords and phrases relevant to your question, and include synonyms. Don't skip this step! Think about synonyms for your keywords and phrases.

Use quotation marks for exact phrases:

ex: "armenian genocide"
ex: "boko haram"

Wild cards find all versions of a word when added after the word's root:

ex: iraq* finds iraq and iraquis, etc.
ex: sanction* finds sanction, sanctions, sanctioning, etc.

Start with a general search, and narrow it down as you look through your results.

Read abstracts when they are available. They're brief summaries of the contents of a long, complex article. Abstracts are hugely helpful. NOTE: A small percentage of articles in JSTOR include abstracts.

Need Help? Ask Sue or Derek!

War Unit

(The Siege of Sarajevo, 1992-1993. Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Christian Maréchal.)

War Unit
Databases can be helpful for getting background information about a country or region's involvement in a conflict or war. Here are some good places to begin.
Databases
These databases are helpful sources of journal articles, book chapters (Academic Source Premier and JSTOR), and some newspaper articles.

Modern World History Online This link opens in a new window
This is a great source of published, reliable information on countries, politics, history, and major figures. It's a good starting point for understanding the causes and impacts of a conflict or war.
Academic Search Premier (EbscoHost) This link opens in a new window
This database contains lots of journal articles on history and political science, among other topics. It also includes some national and regional newspapers.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR contains journal articles, book chapters, and research reports from a range of social studies and political science sources. Be aware that more recent information from the past 3-5 years will often not yet be accessible through JSTOR.

Websites

BBC History: World Wars
Features short, factual articles about several large interntional conflicts from a reliable British news source.

BBC Country Profiles
A reliable starting point for quick, accurate information about the politics, culture, and economic situation in countries. Use the drop-down menus.

CIA World Factbook This link opens in a new window
Use the drop-down menu on the right side of the screen to select a country. There's access to detailed information about government, politics, and major conflicts or wars for each country. Remember that this website provides a US-centric perspective.

Ebooks
The Gale Ebooks source provides fully searchable chapters from hundreds of published, peer-reviewed books designed for students of Social Studies. Use the search screen to find useful chapters. There's citation help on the right of each page.

Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window
You have access to over 9000 ebooks for research on Social Studies (and many other) topics. Use the search bar to enter your search terms, such as "Crimean war." You can download, email, print or play MP3 files of the chapters of these books.