Use Summon to perform 'one search' to find books, journal articles, newspaper articles, videos, and many other types of published literature. It searches almost all of our collections and databases, simultaneously.

If you know the title of a specific book, journal article, or journal, just type in the full title in the search box. If not do a KEYWORD search.

When you get your results, use the filters on the left side of the screen to Refine your search. 

Note: If you are searching Summon from off campus, you must login if you want to be able to access the full text of journal articles and ebooks.

America History and Life and Historical Abstracts

These databases can be searched simultaneously:

•     Open either one of these databases
•     At the TOP of the search page click on "Choose Databases"
•     Tick off America History and Life and Historical Abstracts
•     Click OK
•     Begin your search

BOOLEAN searching in the databases:

• Combine keywords with AND
• Combine synonyms with OR
• Use truncation * (asterisk) at the end of a root word to find all forms of the word, ie: mineral* (will retrieve minerals, mineralogy, mineralogical, etc.)

Google Scholar

Search Google Scholar via Carleton Library to seemlessly connect to the fulltext of articles that are part of the library's collection. Consult the Google Scholar Search Tips guide for helpful more information.

You can also search subject-specific databases to find journal articles. They offer many advanced search features, only contain scholarly literature and search results are more precise. Consult the following recommended lists:

• Databases by Subject
• Databases by Type
• History detailed guide

Note: If the library does not have what you need, you can order books and journal articles from other libraries through RACER but you need to register before you can start using it.

Historical Newspapers

For information on historical newspapers please see the following page: Newspapers

RACER

Get a RACER account from the Interlibrary Loans Department in order to order material from other libraries.

Cited Reference Searching

Cited Reference searching is most often used for finding articles that cite a particular work. Many databases provide citation counts for individual articles.

Why is this important?

• Keeping track of who has cited a given work can help you gauge the impact that article has in the discipline
• To find citation counts for history, use Web of Science, or Scopus
• If the article has been cited, the database will provide a link to the citing articles
• Cited Reference Searching Help Guide

Search Alerts Help Guide - search alerts are a current awareness service that helps researchers stay current in what is being published in their field via email.

Books & Encyclopedias

• Research methods for history
• The information-literate historian : a guide to research for history students
• Using non-textual sources: a historian's guide
• The Routledge companion to historical studies
• History of oral history : foundations and methodology

Nvivo Software

Nvivo is qualitative data analysis software intended to help researchers organize and analyze data, identify trends, and cross examine information in a variety of ways.  Consult the NVIVO service web page for more information about this tool and training workshops.