Home - HIST 157J | The United States and the Middle East: The 19th Century to the Present - Yale University Library Research Guides at Yale University

Yale Library Search Tools

The main search tools for finding books, articles, databases, archival collections, and more at Yale (and beyond) can all be found on the "Find, Request, and Use" page of the library's website. Here are a few quick refreshers, but be sure to visit the page for a full overview:

Orbis (classic catalog)
Searches books, e-books, journals (but not individual articles), government documents, and other physical and digital items. It's the classic catalog of Yale Library *not* including items from the Law Library. Can be used to find both primary and secondary sources.
Morris (classic catalog of Law Library)
If your topic relates to legal history or potentially involves research in legal materials, be sure to include Morris in your search, or else use Books+ (which searches both Morris and Orbis).
Quicksearch
A combined search of the library's books, journals and journal articles, licensed databases, digitized archival collections, archival finding aids, and more. Searches Orbis as well as Morris, which is the Law Library catalog. A vast, Google-like search, but some library materials will still not be retrieved by it, and the advanced search refinements and options to use just one part of Quicksearch or another can be key to running efficient, manageable, and successful searches.
Articles+
Within Quicksearch, Articles+ can be a powerful tool for finding individual journal, newspaper, and magazine articles.
Books+
Within Quicksearch, Books+ will limit your search to the books (and reports and numerous other monographs, as opposed to journal articles) that are found across the Yale Libraries. Orbis + Morris (Law Library) collections are searched together.
Archives at Yale
The search portal for finding archival materials at Yale. Look for the Scope & Contents notes, inventories, and PDF Finding Aids to assess the relevance of materials to your research project.
Also see the Guide to Using Special Collections at Yale University for more information on finding, requesting, and using archival materials in the Yale Library.
Yale Library Digital Collections
Access to millions of digitized works and images from the Yale Library. This site is a living database, and new materials are added regularly.

Reference Works

Background or "reference" sources are a great place to start your research. Reference works include bibliographies, scholarly encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other sources that provide overviews of topics and suggestions for further reading.

Cambridge Core

Includes book series such as the Cambridge Histories and Cambridge Companions.

Oxford Bibliographies

This is an extensive collection of annotated bibliographies that are keyword searchable and can also be browsed by subject area.

Oxford Handbooks Online

Lengthy chapters in the Oxford Handbooks usually provide helpful overviews of scholarly topics and historical literature, along with suggestions for further reading.

The Oxford Research Encyclopedias

The Oxford Research Encyclopedias are scholarly encyclopedias with informative articles, usually providing a discussion of the literature including primary sources.

The SHAFR Guide Online

Annotated bibliography of U.S. foreign relations, 1600-present

Wiley Online Library

A large collection of resources. The Wiley Companions will be especially useful. Navigate to "Humanities" and then "History" in order to find a detailed listing of titles by subfield.

Library contacts

Joshua Cochran, Curator for American History and Diplomacy, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, joshua.cochran@yale.edu

Robin Dougherty, Librarian for Middle East Studies, roberta.dougherty@yale.edu

James Kessenides, Kaplanoff Librarian for American History, james.kessenides@yale.edu

Journal Articles

In addition to the online library catalog (Books+ and Orbis), reference sources, and footnotes in the sources you're already finding, subject-specific databases of journal articles, book reviews, and the like are another extremely helpful resource for finding secondary literature. Here are a few key ones that may be helpful for your research this semester:

America: History and Life
Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada and indexes over 2000 historical journals.
Film and Television Literature Index
Historical Abstracts
For finding scholarly journal literature on the history of all parts of the world except the U.S. and Canada.
Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies
A bibliographic index of research, policy and scholarly discourse on the countries and peoples of the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa.
MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography
The MLA (Modern Language Association) Bibliography is the major index for literary studies. Subjects covered are: Modern literatures, Literary theory and criticism, Linguistics, Teaching of language, Film, television and theater, Rhetoric and composition, History of the book, Folklore

Related Guides

Guides to Historical Research & Writing

The Craft of Research, Fourth Edition by Wayne C. Booth; Gregory G. Colomb; Joseph M. Williams; Joseph Bizup; William T. FitzGerald
ISBN: 9780226239569
Publication Date: 2016-10-19
Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing by Anthony Brundage
ISBN: 9781119262831
Publication Date: 2017-04-27

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