Finding Books & Articles - AMER 1002W - Introduction to American Studies: Food and America - Kevra

Books, Articles, & More!

Vanderbilt University Library Catalog

Selecting the best search scope for your research needs:

Library Catalog vs. VU Collections vs. Articles

Search Scope	What is included?	When should I use it?
Library Catalog	Broadest search scope Results will include books and ebooks, articles, and media like DVDs	A great option when you are just beginning your research process. Use Library Catalog when you want to survey the research landscape for your topic
VU Collections	Focuses on VU owned items, physical and digital Results will include books and ebooks, and media like DVDs Digital collections like the TV News Archive will also be included in your results	You have defined your information needs Use VU Collections when you are ready to create a tailored search for your topic
Articles	Content from selected VU databases Popular and scholarly articles	Use Articles to find popular and scholarly articles on your topic. The Articles scope does not search across all databases accessible to the Vanderbilt community. Not finding the articles you need or want more database options? Consult the Database A-Z

For a more detailed explanation of your search scope options consult What am I searching?

Keyword vs. Subject Searching

Step 1: Start your search process by brainstorming a list of keywords that describe the main concepts of your topic or question.

Step 2: Use these keywords for your initial searches.

Step 3: Use the Subject Heading links in the Library Catalog record to refine your search.

Screenshot of catalog record for "Storied Dishes"

A Selection of Useful Subject Headings

Food History		Food security
Cooking History		Cooking, American
Gastronomy History		Cooking, American History
Food habits United States		Food in popular culture

America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
Index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada. Journal articles, book titles, book reviews, and dissertations.
Coverage: 1910 to present. User Limit: 6.
Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new window
Index to journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies. Includes materials published in English and European languages from the late 19th century to the present. Compilation of the Royal Anthropological Institute’s Anthropological Index and Harvard University's Anthropological Literature databases.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Large and important archive for academic journals, books, and primary sources in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Many journals do not have current issues.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window
Subject indexing of journals, books, proceedings, and dissertations in the areas of literature, language and linguistics, folklore, film, literary theory & criticism, dramatic arts, and the historical aspects of printing and publishing.
Coverage: 1926 to present.
ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Search all ProQuest databases simultaneously. Includes arts, humanities, social sciences, news, and science and technology.

What is ?

FindIt@VU provides direct links from a database citation to the fulltext of the article (if available) and other supporting resources.

An FAQ for FindIt@VU is also available.

News

Nexis Uni (formerly LexisNexis Academic) This link opens in a new window
News and newspaper stories, federal and state court cases, US law reviews and journals, company profiles and directories. Company Dossier; data on public figures.
Access Note: Personal account required for some functionality. User Limit: Unlimited.
ProQuest News and Newspapers This link opens in a new window
Direct link to the newspaper section of ProQuest. Includes Alt-Press Watch, Ethnic NewsWatch, GenderWatch, Latin American Newsstand, Canadian Newsstand Complete, ProQuest Newsstand, ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Times of London, and The Tennessean.
All current Vanderbilt University students, faculty, and staff have access, both on and off campus.

Magazines

National Geographic This link opens in a new window
Archive of National Geographic magazine, and collection of National Geographic books, maps, images and videos.

Coverage: 1888 - 1994.
Women's Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
Women’s interest consumer magazines with detailed article-level indexing. Includes Better Homes and Gardens, Chatelaine, Cosmopolitan, Essence, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Parents, Redbook, Seventeen, WIN News, and Woman's Day.
Coverage: late-19th century to 2005.
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
Complete archive of American Vogue, documenting American and international fashion, culture, and society. High-resolution color page images, with every page, advertisement, cover, and fold-out included.
Coverage: 1892-present.

HathiTrust has created the Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS), which will allow Vanderbilt students, faculty, and staff online reading access to materials that Vanderbilt Libraries own in print during this period of remote teaching, learning, and research. Access is available until further notice.

**Users need to click on the yellow Log in button and choose Vanderbilt University as their institution and then login with their VUnet ID and password to gain access.

Temporary Access titles are not accessible from the Library Catalog. You will need to search for them directly in HathiTrust. I recommend a title search directly in the catalog. See screenshot for example:

Some caveats:

Not all print items available in our catalog are available in HathiTrust
HathiTrust is providing reading access to Temporary Access titles
- The option to download the work in full is not available
- You will be able to “check out” materials for a limited time (60 minutes)
  - There is an automatic renewal option available
Access to items is 1-1; 1 copy on the member library shelf, 1 individual access to the digital copy; 2 copies, 2 concurrent users of the digital item.
You may encounter a title that is not available for check out even though it is in our print collection as well as in HathiTrust
- Please contact the library for assistance.