LibGuides: First Year Students' Guide to UW Libraries: History & Religion

Tips for Keyword Searches

What is a keyword?

A keyword is an informative word used to describe the content of a document.
For example, keywords are words/phrases you can put into a search bar that will pull up books, articles, and other library resources with content relevant to the entered word/phrase.

Below are tips related to keyword searches for History or Religion topics!

When searching in primary source databases, you should consider historical keywords that are contemporary to the time period.
For example, if you are searching for "1800s bars", consider that "bars" may have been called something different in that historical context, such as "saloons".

History Databases

UW Libraries has many databases that contain secondary source articles related to History. You can find a list of all subject databases here: All History databases

U.S. History (Gale in Context) This link opens in a new window
History indexing/full-text database that combines journal articles, documents, reference sources, primary sources and media into research topics. On the Gale In Context platform.
World History (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
World History Collection provides access to scholarly journals and magazines, covering events in world history and scholarly work being established in the field.

Religion Databases

UW Libraries has a large selection of databases related to Religion and Religious Studies. You can find a list of all subject databases here: All Religion and Religious Studies databases

Religion Database This link opens in a new window
Religion Database provides a wide range of primarily full-text periodicals and other sources for diverse religious and spiritual studies, covering formal theological studies and commentary on topics of general interest from the perspectives of many worldwide religions. As well as scholarly journals there are many titles from religious publishing bodies and nondenominational organizations. The resource reflects a wide spectrum of religious belief systems and supports the global study of religion.
Religion and Philosophy (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window
Religion & Philosophy Collection features a selection of more than 200 magazines and academic journals covering religion and the related areas of philosophy and anthropology. Researchers can use this database not only to study theological approaches to social issues, but also to learn about the impact that religion has had on culture throughout history, including literature, arts, and language. Coverage, which includes more than 1.1 million articles updated daily, begins as early as 1980 for indexing and 1983 for periodical full text.

History Primary Source Databases

Primary source databases are great places to find a variety of materials such as videos, photographs, letters, diaries, and more. You can view additional primary source databases in the history database list.

Civil War Primary Source Documents This link opens in a new window
Includes letters, diaries, administrative recores, photographs, and illustrations from the New-York Historical Society's Civil War collection.
Gale Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
A database provided by Gale that combines several of Gale's primary source databases such as Eighteenth Century Collections Online, Indigenous Peoples: North America, and several others.
Research Methods Primary Sources This link opens in a new window
Research Methods Primary Sources introduces humanities and social science students to the key approaches and methodologies of working with source material. Designed to be used in the classroom or for independent study, this resource will help students work with primary sources and assess historical evidence.