LibGuides: History: An Introduction: Databases

Resource Librarian

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NUS Central Library
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Subjects: Area Studies, Citations and References, Design & Environment, Humanities, Social Sciences

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Databases are a good a place to begin research. They may contain journal articles, conference papers, newspapers, book chapters, reports and reviews, which are essential for your literature review or your secondary research.

We have listed a few useful databases that you can access via NUS Libraries in the box below.

Useful Databases for your Research and Assignments

This list contains history specific databases. In them, you will find both secondary and primary resources that you may need for your assignments and research:

America History & Life
America: History and Life is the definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from as far back as 1910, this database is without question the most important bibliographic reference tool for students and scholars of U.S. and Canadian history.
Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts is an exceptional resource that covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more - essential for libraries supporting upper-division and graduate research. This authoritative database provides indexing of more than 2,300 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955. History and social science researchers have used Historical Abstracts to discover significant and groundbreaking work for more than 50 years.
A Sense of History by NUS Libraries
This is a select bibliography produced by NUS Libraries, lists primary and secondary sources on the history of Singapore. Do note that you will have to search manually in Findmore for the materials that you need

This list contains databases that are multi-disciplinary in nature. In them, you will find secondary sources that you will need for your assignments or research:

JSTOR
Provides page images of back issues of the core scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences from the earliest issues to within a few years of current publication. Users may browse by journal title or discipline, or may search the full-text or citations/abstracts. New issues of existing titles and new titles are added on an ongoing basis.
Project Muse
Project MUSE is a unique collaboration between libraries and publishers providing full-text and user-friendly online access to high quality humanities, social sciences and mathematics journals from over 60 scholarly publishers. Provides access to journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press and other not-for-profit publishers. UPCC Book Collections on Project MUSE, launched in January 2012, offer top quality book-length scholarship, fully integrated with MUSE's scholarly journal content
SCOPUS
This database provides indexing, abstracting of and citation linking to journals in biology ,physics, chemistry, geosciences, agriculture, medicine, business, social work, and the social sciences
Web of Science
Web of Science provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and students with quick, powerful access to the world's leading citation databases. Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers over 10,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and over 110,000 conference proceedings. You'll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900.

This list contains databases for the Humanities & Social Sciences. In them, you will find secondary sources that you will need for your assignments or research:

ACLS Humanities E-Book
ACLS Humanities E-Book is a digital collection of full-text titles offered by the ACLS [American Council of Learned Societies] in collaboration with twelve learned societies, nearly 95 contributing publishers, and librarians at the University of Michiganʼs Scholarly Publishing Office.
ATLA religion database
Provides information on topics such as biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religion in social issues. ATLA Religion Database contains more than 1.8 million bibliographic records covering the research literature of religion in over 60 languages. It includes more than 620,000 article citations from more than 1,746 journals (575 currently indexed), more than 250,000 essay citations from over 18,000 multi-author works, more than 570,000 book review citations, and a growing number of multimedia citations. Coverage spans from 1949 to the present.
Biography Index Past and Present (H.W. Wilson)
Biography Index: Past and Present is a trusted, biographical resource. Featuring retrospective coverage from Biography Index back to its first publication in 1946, it combines retrospective coverage with current indexing to produce a comprehensive biographical resource for students, scholars, media professionals, book clubs, and all researchers seeking biographical information. Content Includes: Over a million article and book citations Retrospective coverage from Biography Index back to its first publication in 1946 Coverage of present-day news-makers Entries on individuals that reflect the perspective of the time when they were written
Essay and general literature index (H.W. Wilson)
Essay and General Literature Index, produced by the H.W. Wilson Company, is a unique reference database that cites records contained in collections of essays and miscellaneous works published in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. More than 320 single and multi-authored volumes are indexed annually with more than 20 selected annuals and serial publications.
Humanities Abstract (H.W. Wilson)
Humanities Abstracts™ provides detailed indexing for almost 700 periodicals covering the humanities—of which 470 are peer-reviewed—dating as far back as 1984, including feature articles, interviews, bibliographies, obituaries, and original works of fiction, drama, poetry and book reviews, as well as reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, radio and television programs, plays, operas, and more.
Humanities international complete
Humanities International Complete provides full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world. Produced by Whitston Publishing (an imprint of EBSCO Publishing), this database includes all data from Humanities International Index (more than 2,300 journals and more than 2.9 million records) plus unique full text content, much of which is not found in other databases. The database includes full text for more than 1,200 journals.
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
The International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) includes over 3 million bibliographic references to journal articles and to books, reviews and selected chapters dating back to 1951. It is unique in its broad coverage of international material and incorporates over 100 languages and countries. It provides cross-disciplinary coverage across the social sciences, focused on four primary subject areas: anthropology, economics, political science and sociology.
PAIS Index
This resource covers issues in the public debate through selective coverage of a wide variety of international sources including journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more. PAIS International is the current file covering 1972 to present, and PAIS Archive includes the content from printed volumes published 1915-1976.
Social Science Database
Social Science Database offers indexing and full text for hundreds of academic journals, providing extensive coverage across a wide range of social science disciplines including anthropology, communication, criminology, economics, education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology.
Social Sciences Abstracts
Social Sciences Abstracts™ provides access to a wide assortment of the most important English-language journals published in the U.S. and elsewhere, with abstracting and indexing of over 625 periodicals as far back as 1983, nearly 400 of which are peer-reviewed. Social Sciences Abstracts™ covers the latest concepts, trends, opinions, theories and methods from both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences.
Sociological Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts indexes international scholarly literature in sociology and includes companion file Social Services Abstracts. Sociological Abstracts, and its companion file Social Services Abstracts, cover the international literature of sociology, social work, and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. It provides abstracting and indexing of articles and book reviews drawn from thousands of serials publications, plus books, book chapters, dissertations, conference papers, and working papers.
Urban studies abstracts
Urban Studies Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains more than 51,600 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources within the discipline.
Worldwide Political Science Abstract
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides abstracts and indexing of the international literature of political science and international relations, along with complementary fields, including international law and public administration/policy. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 750 core serials publications and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and working papers.

This list contains databases that covers Asia. In them, you will find both secondary and primary resources that you may need for your assignments and research:

Bibliography of Asian Studies
Bibliography of Asian Studies™ (BAS), the most comprehensive western-language resource for research on Asia, contains nearly 900,000 records on all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present.
neliti : Indonesia's Research Repository
Neliti is a research repository that helps researchers and decision makers in Indonesia find research, data and evidence

This list contains databases that are essential for Art History researchers and students. In them, you will find both secondary and primary resources that you may need for your assignments and research:

ABIA : index of South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology
ABIA is the only specialist academic in-depth bibliography dedicated to South and Southeast Asian prehistory, archaeology of the historical period, art, crafts and architecture (from early down to contemporary), inscriptions and palaeography, coins and seals of these regions. Going back to 1928, this unique and up-to-date bibliographic reference source has become the standard of reference in the fields it covers for both specialists as well as students.
Art abstracts (H.W. Wilson)
Art Abstracts™ is a comprehensive resource for art information featuring high-quality indexing and abstracting of over 600 periodicals dating back to 1984, including 280 peer-reviewed journals, as well as indexing and abstracting of over 13,000 art dissertations, and indexing of almost 200,000 art reproductions, which provide examples of styles and art movements, including works by emerging artists. The database covers fine, decorative and commercial art, folk art, photography, film, and architecture, and also includes a database-specific thesaurus.
Art Index (H.W. Wilson)
Art Index™ features high-quality indexing of over 600 periodicals, more than 13,000 art dissertations, and almost 200,000 art reproductions, providing examples of styles and art movements, including works by emerging artists. The database includes a database-specific thesaurus and covers fine, decorative and commercial art, as well as folk art, photography, film, and architecture.
Art index retrospective (H.W. Wilson)
Art Index Retrospective™: 1929 -1984 provides users access to over half a century of art literature covering fine, decorative, and commercial art. Content includes high-quality indexing of nearly 600 publications, many of which are peer-reviewed, and citations of over 25,000 book reviews.
ARTstor digital library
Searchable database of digital images and associated catalog data, with new image collections added several times a year. ARTstor covers many time periods and cultures, and documents the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, anthropology, ethnographic and women's studies, as well as many other forms of visual culture. Users can search, view, download and organize images.
Avery index to architectural periodicals
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, published by the Getty Research Institute, is the only comprehensive American guide to the current literature of architecture and design. The index covers international, scholarly and popular periodical literature, including publications of professional associations; US state and regional periodicals; and major serial publications in the architecture and design of Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia.
International bibliography of art
The definitive resource for scholarly literature on Western art, IBA is the successor to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA), and retains the editorial policies which made BHA one of the most trusted and frequently consulted sources in the field. The database includes records created by the Getty Research Institute in 2008-09, with new records created by ProQuest using the same thesaurus and authority files
Performing arts periodicals database
This database provides indexing and abstracts for more than 395 international periodicals, plus full text for more than 160 of the indexed journals. The database currently includes almost a million records, the majority from the most recent ten years of each journal. Performing Arts Periodicals Database covers a broad spectrum of the arts and entertainment industry - including dance, drama, theater, stagecraft, musical theater, circus performance, opera, pantomime, puppetry, magic, performance art, film, television and more

Others : Google Scholar

To gain access to full text from Google scholar, use the proxy bookmarklet or learn how to link Google Scholar with NUS E-Resources.