readysetresearch: American Civil War &amp; Reconstruction: Databases to Use

Databases Using Your PowerLibrary Card

Research your topic with these Pennsylvania PowerLibrary databases & your E-Card to find scholarly, authoritative, and accurate resources.

Black Freedom Struggle in the United States: A Selection of Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Features select primary source documents related to critical people and events in African American history. By centering on the experiences and perspectives of African Americans, it is hoped that this collection imbues the study of Black history with a deeper understanding of the humanity of people who have pursued the quest for freedom, and the significance of movements like Black Lives Matter
US History Collection This link opens in a new window Provides access to scholarly journals and magazines useful to both novice historians as well as advanced academic researchers. Updated daily, this library resource offers balanced coverage of events in U.S. history and scholarly work being established in the field.
Middle School - In Context This link opens in a new window Made specifically for middle schoolers, this resource combines reference content with age-appropriate videos, newspapers, magazines, primary sources, and much more.
Gale OneFile: High School Edition This link opens in a new window
Secondary school students will have access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political science, sports, and environmental studies
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Explore encyclopedias and specialized reference sources on a variety of topics from history, government, environment, math, and more!
EBSCO eBooks This link opens in a new window Select from over 16,000 eBooks from the world's leading publishers across all major subject areas. Perform full-text searches of a single eBook, search thousands of volumes simultaneously, browse topic categories, or read eBooks directly online.
Military and Intelligence Database This link opens in a new window Scholarly journals, magazines, and reports covering all aspects of the past and present military affairs...such as, governmental policies, the socioeconomic effects of war, the structure of the armed forces, and more.
Diversity Studies Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides access to scholarly journals and magazines that explore cultural differences, contributions, and influences in the global community. The database is a must-have for social science, history and liberal arts coursework.
World History Collection This link opens in a new window
Provides access to scholarly journals and magazines useful to both novice historians as well as advanced academic researchers. The database offers balanced coverage of events in world history and scholarly work being established in the field.

Search Tips & Strategies

Search tips and strategies:

The keywords you use can have a huge impact on the results of your search. When you see this
Dig deeper and search the PowerLibrary for names, battles, events!
Every word counts! Avoid searching sentences or entire questions.

You can identify keywords by scanning:

Your research questions
Articles found from background research
Tables of Contents, Indexes, & Bibliographies found at the end of books and articles

If you are still struggling:

Use a thesaurus to identify synonyms.
Find pictures related to your topic, then describe them.
Brainstorm keywords with a librarian, your instructor, or a friend.

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MyBib - Citation Creator

MyBib
Free Citation Generator for MLA, CSE, APA, Harvard, Chicago + Styles. Set up an account to save sources.