HIST 117:Bombay/Mumbai: Making of a Modern Metropolis

Professor: Aparna Kapadia
Fall 2023

Best Bet Library Databases

Use the databases below to find articles on a topic.

Additional Resources

If you are researching a lesser-known person or event, you may want to search one of full-text e-journals collections below:

See also databases in related disciplines, such as Art History, Economics, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, etc.

Historical Abstracts Search Tips

  • Start your search by doing keyword searches.
  • Look at the subject headings of relevant records to determine the terminology used in the database for your topic.
  • Combine the keywords "review article" or "historiography" with your topic to find analyses of the scholarship on your topic.
  • Use the Language Limit to remove items in languages you cannot read.
  • Use the Historical Period limit to narrow your search to the time period you are researching.

Bibliography of Asian Studies Search Tips

  • Use the Geographic Terms field to limit to a specific country.
  • Use Subject field to make search results more relevant.
    • Japan -- History -- By Period --  Tokugawa (1600-1868) 
    • Japan -- Politics & Government
  • Refine your search using the facets on the left side of the screen.

Research Tip: Find Text Button

The Find Text Button

Many of our databases have this SFX Find Text Button button, which searches for the full-text of the article in our collections. If we don't have it electronically, look for the "Request article scan" link in the "Get It" section.

screenshot of Get It section with link

Finding Articles

  • Advantages
    • Subject-specific databases focus on the literature of the field, leading to more relevant and comprehensive results
    • Advanced search functions allow for more precise searching
    • Using the Find Text button leads to free full text provided through library subscriptions and interlibrary loan
  • Disadvantages
    • Need to use search syntax and functions of the database for best results; article databases do not search like Google
       

This guide provides links to article databases recommended for your course. See also the full list of article databases.

  • Advantages
    • Can search for books and articles at the same time
    • Links to free full text provided through library subscriptions and interlibrary loan
  • Disadvantages
    • Does not have as many options as an article database for refining search results
    • Does not include all the content from all of the library's article databases
       

Search the library catalog from the search box on the library home page, through the search widget embedded in research guides, or by visiting https://librarysearch.williams.edu.

  • ​​Advantages
    • Can help you see what topics are important in the field
    • Finds quality articles from a respected source
  • Disadvantages
    • Can be difficult to find an article on your specific topic
    • Literature found will not be as comprehensive as searching in article databases, which cover hundreds of journals
       

Hint: Most article databases have a "Journal Title" search field or limit, so you can use these search functions to narrow your more comprehensive search results to these recommended titles.

  • ​Advantages
    • Easy to search; does not require special search syntax
    • Can search across many subject disciplines at one time
    • Usually finds something on any topic
  • Disadvantages
    • Difficult​ to refine search results; not as precise as searching in article databases
    • Does not contain all of the articles found in library subscription article databases
    • Need to evaluate the articles more carefully, especially ones found through general Google searches
    • May run into a paywall to access the full text of the article

Hint: Enable the Find Text link in your Google Scholar settings or search for the article in the library catalog when you hit a paywall.