How To Search
America: History and Life
America: History and Life (1964-present) offers citations to thousands of scholarly articles, books, reviews, and dissertations about topics in American and Canadian history. The database also encompasses cultural subjects such as the fine arts, communication, language, fashion, music, interior design, warfare, and politics.
Getting Started
> Click on America: History and Life on the databases
list.
> Press "Click here to access your subscription".
> Click "America: History and Life"
Searching
> To begin, click "Advanced Search"
in the center of the page and type words in the "Keywords" box
for the most effective searches.
> Connect words with AND, OR, AND NOT.
Lee and Gettysburg finds an article that contains both Lee and Gettysburg.
cinema or theater finds an article that contains either cinema or theater.
broadcasting and not radio finds an article about broadcasting but not radio.
> Phrase Searching: Enclose words in quotation marks to find an exact
phrase.
Example: "Great Depression"
> Truncation: Use an * to find variants of a word.
Example: war* will find articles that contain "war", "wars",
and "warfare"
> Combining the Search Methods: If necessary, use parentheses to organize
the search.
Example: Nixon and (campaign or election) finds an article that contains Nixon
and either campaign or election.
Advanced Searching
> Limit your searches to a specific area by clicking on the magnifying glass
at the end of each search field: Author/Editor, Document Type, Time Period.
Example: You are studying jazz in the Roaring 20s. Type jazz in the keyword
field. Click on the magnifying glass at the end of the Time Period field. Scroll
down and check 1920D. Click the "Paste Terms" button at the top of
the screen. You have now limited the search to articles about jazz music in
the 1920s.
Finding the Full-Texts of articles
Some articles in America have blue links to online texts: "Link to full text at …". However, for most articles, please look in the Libraries’ Catalog to see if the Libraries own a printed copy of the journal containing the article:
> Minimize America
(or print out the citations)
> Go to the "Libraries Catalog" at http://library.ua.edu/
> Select "Basic Search"
> Type in the name of the journal or magazine (not the title of the article).
> Go to the "Find Results in" menu and highlight "Journal Title".
> Click the "Search" button
> The journal will appear if the library owns it. (If the Libraries do not
own the journal, you will see the red message "Your search resulted
in no hits!" in the Catalog)
> Scroll down and see if the Library Has the appropriate month and
year of the journal or magazine (Please note: if multiple headings for the
journal appear, click on each heading and scroll down to see if the library owns
the appropriate month and year.)
> Write down the Location and Call Number for the journal or
magazine. Also, be sure to write down the citation—author, article title, journal
title, publications date, volume and issue number, page numbers-- from America.
> Retrieve the article from the appropriate library. Ask at the Information
Desk for assistance.
Printing, Saving, Emailing
Printing is free if you are using America from off-campus. Printing costs 5 cents a page inside the Library, and you must use an Action Card to print. You can load Bama Cash on an Action Card at the Value Transfer Station in the Copy Room. (Full-Texts: For instructions on printing texts from JSTOR or Project Muse, see the tip sheets for those databases.)
> Tag the citation(s)
that you want by checking the box at the top left of each citation.
> Click "Output Options" on the left side of the screen.
> Select the proper choice for "Entry Format" and "Request Entry"
> Click "ASCII Display" for printing and saving (or enter your email
address and click "Email").
> Click the "Submit" bar on the right.
> Printing: click the "Print" icon at the top of the screen
on the browser bar. If you are printing inside the Library, type in your name
and pay for your print job at the printer station. Saving: insert the disk
in the computer, click "File". Select "Save As" and floppy
disk.)
Help
> Go to the Information Desk.
> Call the Information Desk (205) 348-6047