How to Find Sources Through America: History and Life

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How to find sources through America: History and Life.
America: History and Life is a database that allows you to search listings of scholarly journal articles, books, and other sources, including many in full text.
It covers North American history from the earliest times to the present.
In other words, in spite of its title, America: History and Life contains material on both U.S. AND Canadian history topics.
At the main search page, enter combinations of your search terms at the top. In this example, I've indicated that I want to find sources that mention the words "Canada" "housing" and "race."
[On the advanced search screen, the search terms "Canada" AND “housing” AND “race” have been entered. Each of the terms is in its own box. The AND has been selected from the dropdown menu connecting the search boxes.]
At the bottom of the same page, you can add limits to your search in advance, like specifying the historical period [e.g., a specific date range or historical era] you're studying or the language of publication.
Click "Search," then review the list of results that come up.
[15 search results appear.]
If your search has produced too many results, try adding further limits using the options to refine your results in the column on the left side of the page. [The left side of the page shows options to refine results, such as the options to limit results to peer-reviewed and by source type.]
If your search hasn't brought up the results you were hoping for, try changing the search terms you're using. This can produce results that you might not otherwise come across.
[On the advanced search screen, a new search has been entered: "Toronto" AND “segregation.” Each of the terms is in its own box. The AND has been selected from the dropdown menu connecting the search boxes.]
Once you've found a source that seems promising, click on its title to get further information and, if available, to access the full text.
Before accessing and reading the whole source, review details such as the abstract to determine if the source is going to be useful. An abstract is a short description.
The official subject terms listed in the record are particularly useful. If you see one that's relevant, click on it to see if there are other sources classified in the same way.
[Subject terms are displayed (e.g. “Housing policy,” “Toronto (Ont.) - Economic Conditions,” “Housing development”).]
Links on the left side of the page will indicate if the full text of the source is available in the database. If the source isn't available in full text in the database itself, click on the "Get it at Guelph" link to check if full text is available through another one of our databases.
Don't forget to try a variety of different searches using different combinations of terms to achieve different results.
[The search has been modified to “Race,” “Canada,” and “20th century”, with “AND” selected from the dropdown between each box. This search produces a larger result set.]
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