Ask A Librarian Research Assistance
This instruction page will likely inspire additional questions on your research when you return tothis page to use the recommended resources. Please visit our Ask a Librarian page to get additional help from a librarian.

Identifying Materials in the Library Collection
Materials owned by the library can be identified by using the Online Catalog for books or multi-media materials or the Periodical Holdings List , that identifies full-text subscription-based periodicals, searchable on the library's web site.

Rockhurst University is a member of the MOBIUS consortium consisting of 60 Missouri academic libraries. Books available in MOBIUS libraries can be requested by you and sent here for your use. Additional information about this is found on the Patron Initiated Borrowing Through the Online Catalog guide.

Subject Searching in the Online Catalog

Select the Subject search option to find materials about Women and U.S. History.

Example: If you type in Women -- United States -- History, then the results will include all terms. You would then be able to limit the search to specific time periods.

Some suggested reference titles include:

A History of Women in the United States Ref HQ 1410 H58 2004 [multi-volume set]

Black Women in America Ref E 185.86 B542 1993 [multi-volume set]

Colonial America: an Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History Ref E 162 C68 2006 [multi-volume set]

Chronology of World History Ref D 11 M39 1999 [multi-volume set]

Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History Ref E 185 E54 2006 [multi-volume set]

Great Lives from History Ref HQ 1412 G74 1995 [multi-volume set]

Native Americans Ref E 93 N32 2002

Notable Black American Women Ref E 185.96 N68 1992 [multi-volume set]

The Oxford Encylcopedia of Latinos & Latinas in the United States Ref E 184 S75 O97 2005 [multi-volume set]

The Seventies in America Ref E 169.12 S447 2006 [multi-volume set]

Working Americans 1880-1999 Ref HD 8066 D47 2000 [multi-volume set]

Periodicals Holdings: Locating journals, magazines, and newspapers use the Periodicals Holdings Page:

Access to Library Databases
On campus access to most of the library's subscription databases is available on the "Electronic Resources" page on the library's web site. Use either the alphabetical or subject lists of databases to find the one you need.

Off campus access is available through the VPN proxy server provided by Computer Services. The Off Campus Access to Databases page will link you to the page provided by Computer Services. If you link directly to the library's web site outside of VPN you will not be able to use the databases.

Understanding the Difference Between Scholarly, Trade and Popular Periodicals
Criteria to determine how scholarly and trade journal articles differ from general interest articles in the field can be found on the Scholarly Journal, Trade Journal or Popular Magazine? research guide.

Sources of Analysis and Discussion on issues pertaining to Women and United States History in Library Databases

Credo Reference
Credo Reference is a collection of over 400 reference titles covering topics in the humanities, science, medicine and social sciences. The full text of these titles are available and there are links from titles to related articles in many of the library's journal databases and to books identified in the library's online catalog.

Academic Search Premier
This database indexes and abstracts articles appearing in over 7300 journals in the areas of social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more, some as far back 1965. Full text of articles appear from 4000 scholarly journals, including 3100 peer-reviewed titles.

JSTOR
JSTOR (short for Journal Storage) is an online archive of scholarly journals which have been digitally reproduced to provide access to the backfile of each title. Some titles go back to the 19th century. JSTOR will not include the latest 2 - 5 years of the journals for most titles, although some publishers of journals are now providing links to some recent content.

For more information about JSTOR and the additional means of searching for information in this database connect to this link.

America: History & Life
This database covers U.S. and Canadian history and area studies, with citations and abstracts of articles appearing in over 1800 scholarly journals. Also includes citations for book and media reviews, as well as dissertations. The database is updated monthly. Coverage is from 1964 through the present.

CLIO Notes for America: History & Life will guide you through subjects in United States history, by allowing you to browse through chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes in American history. Look for the link to CLIO Notes on the blue menu bar above the search box. On the main screen in CLIO Notes, you will find a list of major time periods and events. Each of these is further divided into subtopics that display informative essays and suggestions for further research. Linked subject terms are also provided, which allow you to search the entire America: History and Life database for articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations.

Academic OneFile
This database contains peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources. Extensive coverage of the sciences, technology, medicine, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects - authoritative and comprehensive. Millions of articles available in both PDF and HTML full-text with no restrictions; updated daily.

In the First Person
An index to diaries, letters, oral histories and personal narratives covering many subjects, all in the English language. Source formats include text, audio and video files. The sources are repositories and collections which are available free on the web, as well as some which are only available in subscription databases. Results that instruct the user to login will not be accessible since the library does not subscribe to those subscription databases.

Additional databases can be searched by subject.

Interlibrary Loan
Articles not found full text in the library's collection or books not found in a MOBIUS library can be ordered from other libraries across the country through Interlibrary Loan. Use the forms on our Interlibrary Loan page to submit your request electronically. Books are free; articles are 20 cents per page per article. Articles will be delivered as PDF documents to your Rockhurst email account. Usually you will have your materials within a week after submitting your request.

Proper Citation of Sources
When using information from other sources, whether copyrighted or not, it is necessary to give attribution to those sources. Doing so will help you avoid plagiarism.

More information about copyright is found on the Copyright and Fair Use guide.

Information on how to avoid plagiarism is on the Avoiding Plagiarism guide.

RefWorks
The library provides the RefWorks bibliographic management system. This is a bibliography management program that allows Rockhurst University faculty, students and staff to set up their own online account to manage electronic citations imported from databases subscribed to by the Greenlease Library as well as input citation information from print sources. Only Rockhurst University email accounts may be used with RefWorks accounts. These citations are easily incorporated into documents created in word processing programs. Many citation formats are included.

RefWorks Account Information

Tutorial and Quick Start Guide (PDF 2.42MB)*

How to Export Saved Citations from a Database Into RefWorks (PDF 89 KB)*

Adding References Manually to RefWorks

Additional Sources of Information in the Library Collection
In addition to the sources listed below, the library has many print sources in the Reference collection that give information on history. Most of these sources cannot be checked out, so plan time to visit the library to consult them. Research and Internet Sources guides are listed on the Research Guides and Internet Sources available on the library web site. You might consider the American History guide, the Native American History guide, and the Women's Studies Sources.

Library Accounts
The Rockhurst University ID card also is the library card for students. At the bottom of the card is the library account number, which begins "10006".

You will be given a unique campus identification number in addition to your library account number. With this library account number and unique campus identification number you may:

• Request items directly from the other libraries in the Online Catalog;
• Checkout items directly from other MOBIUS libraries. Rockhurst University is a member of the MOBIUS consortium consisting of 60 Missouri academic libraries around the state. This gives our students the ability to identify and use materials from the collections of these libraries. Currently the total of the collections of these libraries is nearly 20 million items.
• View your library account to see what you have checked out, renew items, view any unpaid fees on your account or view items on request from other libraries.

Detailed information about library accounts and utilizing all of the functions listed above can be found on the library's Circulation Services web page.

* PDF document which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view, download or print.

Updated September 11, 2009