Librarian
Welcome!
In this course, you'll be combining scientific knowledge with American history. This guide will provide you with resources that combine these to disciplines. Using a combination of multidisciplinary databases, biology resources, and history resources will provide you with a robust selection of research materials.
Biology Resources
The primary way that biologists communicate their research findings is through scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. Journal articles are most commonly found in databases. Use the databases below to search for biology sources:
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ProQuest Biological Science Collection This link opens in a new windowCross-search 30 ProQuest resources in the biological sciences. Includes resources in animal behavior, ecology, endocrinology, genetics, microbiology, neurosciences, plant science, toxicology, and more.
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ProQuest Environmental Science Collection This link opens in a new windowResource for journal articles, conference proceedings, reports, books, and government publications related to environmental science.
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Scopus This link opens in a new windowIndexing, abstracts, and citation searching for science and social science scholarly literature.
History Resources
Historians use several literature types to convey their findings, including books and scholarly, peer-reviewed literature sources. To find books, use Library Search or an e-book database.
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Library Search This link opens in a new windowFind books, ebooks, articles, journals, videos, digital media, and more. Library Search brings together the JMU Library Catalog and many other databases.
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HathiTrust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowCollection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
There are numerous historical databases to explore. The following are a good place to start when searching for scholarly, peer-reviewed sources:
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Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowMultidisciplinary index and full text source for scholarly journals and magazines.
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JSTOR This link opens in a new windowFull online text and images for back issues of selected scholarly journals and monographs in history, economics, political science, anthropology, sociology, literature, etc.
Finally, historians also rely on primary sources such as newspapers, diaries, witness accounts, among other resources. If you would like to consult original documents, consider the following resources:
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America's Historical Imprints This link opens in a new windowCross-searchable platform of primary source collections. Contains books, pamphlets, broadsides, and other scarce material printed and distributed in America during the 17th-19th centuries, documenting American history, culture, and daily life.
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Accessible Archives Complete This link opens in a new windowCollection of primary sources for American history, such as The Pennsylvania Gazette, The Virginia Gazette, The Liberator, Godey’s Lady’s Book, The Woman’s Tribune, and Frank Leslie’s Weekly.
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American Civil War: Letters & Diaries This link opens in a new windowPrimary source database of more than 400 diaries, letters and memoirs written during the American Civil War.
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History Commons This link opens in a new windowDiverse primary source materials reflecting broad views across American history and culture.