This guide will help you find published scholarship (essays, books, chapters, journal articles, etc.) and primary source material on a topic.
Remember to evaluate the accuracy of your sources, and think critically about their content and arguments.
For remote login to the Library's electronic resources, see our instructions for Off-Campus Access.
Remember to talk about your project with your instructor in the History Department!
Subject encyclopedias and other reference guides can provide good background information on a topic. Many reference books are in printed format, while others are available in electronic resource collections such as:
Cities in American Political History by 
Cities of the United States by 
Encyclopedia of American Urban History by 
Encyclopedia of Community by 
The Encyclopedia of New York City by 
Encyclopedia of Urban Studies by 
Definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
EconLit with Full Text is the most reliable full-text database for economic research that offers hundreds of full-text journals, including the American Economic Association journals with no embargo.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. Please sign to QC Library when prompted to browse articles within the Queens College Library collections.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Humanities Source is a valuable full-text database covering literary, scholarly, and creative thought.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Collection of scholarly journals and e-books, primarily in the humanities and social sciences.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch
Collection of scholarly journals with strong coverage for the life and physical sciences, medicine, and technical fields, with additional content in the social sciences and humanities.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Social Sciences Full Text (H.W.Wilson) covers the latest concepts, theories, and methods from both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Provides full-text, Peer-Reviewed sociology journals covering many studies including gender studies, criminal justice, social psychology, racial studies, religion, and social work.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Indexes the international literature of sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences; (1952-current).
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
This bibliographic research database is essential to the study of cities and regions. It covers subjects of key relevance to the discipline including urban affairs, community development, and urban history.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Wiley Online Library is a collection of scholarly journals and e-books published by Wiley-Blackwell in science, medicine, social sciences, and humanities.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch
Academic Search Complete is a multidisciplinary database of scholarly journals, magazines, and news sources. It is a good starting point for research in all areas of study.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints is the premier online resource covering today's hottest social issues, from capital punishment to immigration to marijuana.
A database providing full text, indexing and abstracts for a broad selection of periodicals covering many subjects, including art, business, education and entertainment. It is ideal for educators, students, and patrons seeking current events, curriculum support, and popular periodicals.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 includes all the information from 44 Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature annuals, as well as access to over three million articles from approximately 550 leading magazines.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Research Library provides access to a wide range of core academic titles, from business and the sciences to literature and politics.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Ulrichsweb is an easy to search source of detailed information on more than 300,000 periodicals (also called serials) of all types: academic and scholarly journals, e-journals, Peer-Reviewed titles, popular magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and more.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Ethnic NewsWatch is a current resource of full-text newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints is the premier online resource covering today's hottest social issues, from capital punishment to immigration to marijuana.
Gale OneFile: News provides access to more than 2,300 major U.S. regional, national, and local newspapers, as well as leading titles from around the world. It also includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts.
Comprehensive digital coverage back to 1980. The complete text of recent articles is provided in ASCII format. The New York Times Book Review and Sunday Magazine are provided in PDF format.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Nexis Uni offers intuitive searching for all levels of research experience, empowering students to Access discipline-focused pages with curated news, featured publications, and relevant court cases for Political Science, Business, and Criminal Justice majors.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
ProQuest Historical Newspapers is the definitive newspaper digital archive offering full-text and full-image articles for significant newspapers dating back to the 19th Century (1851-2018).
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
U.S. Newsstream enables users to search current U.S. news content (The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Newsday, and Chicago Tribune), as well as archives that stretch back into the 1980s.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Legal Source is the authoritative database for current issues, studies, thoughts, and trends in the legal world.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Nexis Uni offers intuitive searching for all levels of research experience, empowering students to Access discipline-focused pages with curated news, featured publications, and relevant court cases for Political Science, Business, and Criminal Justice majors.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
A sophisticated database program that can be used to view and analyze an array of community and regional data from neighborhoods and other local areas of New York City and New York State; includes population statistics, immigration trends, socio-economic indicators, birth and death data, hospitalizations, local trade data, and more, with data from 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 census, and other sources.
Contains information and statistics specific to New York City, organized in eighteen (18) categories; includes business, culture, education, income, housing, sports, and more.
Social Explorer provides interactive demographic data. Its mapping tools allow data to be easily visualized, and it also allows users to extract data table reports. Users may generate custom reports and maps, and they may create personal accounts to save their reports and maps.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals Collection includes series 1-5 and provides more than 1,800 titles dating from 1838-1852. The themes reveal a rapidly growing young nation where industrialization, the railroads, regional political differences, and life on the western frontier were daily realities.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch.
Black Thought and Culture is a landmark electronic collection of approximately 100,000 pages of non-fiction writings by major American black leaders—teachers, artists, politicians, religious leaders, athletes, war veterans, entertainers, and other figures—covering 250 years of history.
Catalogue Link: OneSearch
