Access: Open a Web browser and follow these instructions for access on or off campus.

• On campus: At the Ely Library home page, click on  Quick Links under Databases.
• Choose History Resource Center: U.S. from the Quick Links menu or Off Campus Access database list.

Search Options:

• Basic Search: The Basic Search is a keyword search. Enter your search terms in the dialog box and click on Search or press Enter on your keyboard. You may also use the Person, Subject, or Advanced search forms, or search the Chronology.

• Person Search: On this search form, use "name contains" to enter a person's name in any order. If you search by "start of name," enter the last name first. To find historical figures by profession, nationality, gender, or by year of birth or death, use the Identify a Person form.
• Subject Search: On this form, search for only one or two words if possible, starting with the most important word first. Search results will display a list of subject terms, including links to particular subjects and to related topics.
• Advanced Search: Use this form to search using a variety of criteria. From the pull-down menus, select index fields for your search terms, and choose Boolean operators to link multiple terms. You may also Limit the current search by time period or document type.
• Chronology: Use the timeline to locate information about major events occuring during 24 historical eras of U.S. history.

The search results default to the Reference Materials tab. To display other results, click on the tabs for Periodicals, Primary Sources, or Maps & Images.

Reference Materials:This section contains material from secondary sources, including encyclopedic articles, biographies, overviews of historical eras, and scholarly essays. Search results are ranked by relevancy.
Periodicals: Includes full-text articles from scholarly history journals. Search results display in chronological order with the most recent articles listed first.
Primary Sources: Includes monographs, pamphlets, and first-person accounts. Search results are ranked by relevancy.
Maps & Images: Contains multimedia files of photographs, illustrations, and historical maps. Search results are alphabetically listed by title.

Displaying, printing, and e-mailing results: Click on title links in the search results to display the full text of any article or document. When the text displays, you may print or e-mail it.

• Print: Click the icon to reformat the text for printing, including full citation information. Use the browser Print button, and then use Back on your browser to return to the document.
• E-mail: Click the icon, and type in your full email address (e.g. yourname@foma.wsc.ma.edu) to receive a formatted copy of the article. Plain Text is the default, but HTML, readable in a browser, is also available.
• Mark this document: We do not recommend using this feature, since the marked list cannot be used to print or e-mail full text.
• Click on Results List to return to the search results screen.

Subjects and Topic Trees: Search results often include a subject guide to Related Subjects in a sidebar on the left.

• Vietnam Veterans Against the War: Click on this related subject term to perform a subject search. A subject search retrieves a list of documents that are indexed on the particular subject term.
• See "Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C.": Click "See" to generate another subject guide for this related term.
• Vietnam War, 1959-1975: Click on this related subject term to perform a subject search.
• View Topic Tree: Click "View" to generate a Topic Tree of broader, narrower, and related terms for the subject "Vietnam War, 1959-1975." Use the Topic Tree to search other subjects or find other Topic Trees that may help you navigate the hierarchical subject guide.
• New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam: Another related subject term.
• Remember that you may also use the Subject Search form to directly access subject terms, subject guides, and links to related subject terms and Topic Trees.

• Type in your search term(s).
• Use the pull-down menus to select index fields, including Keyword, Subject, Person, Title/Headline, Source,  Author (this means the author of an indexed article or document).
• Choose a Boolean operator to link multiple search words or phrases. Use "AND" if you want the search terms to be found together in the same article or document; use "OR" if you want to find all articles that contain any of the terms.
• You may also Limit the current search by time period or document type, or specify the Date of Publication.

Help, Search Tips, and Research Guide: Click on the links from the top banner to access these guides. Help explains the search options, and how to navigate search results and documents. Search Tips gives advice on search terms and phrases, and basic information about punctuation, truncation, Boolean search operators, and proximity operators. The Research Guide covers preparing and composing a history research paper, and includes sections defining primary and secondary sources.