Printable version .pdf

Historical Abstracts is an index of historical journals and books covering the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada).

Logging on

• From the Library's home page select on Databases.
• Scroll down to the alphabetical list and select the letter H.
• Scroll down and select 'Historical Abstracts'.
• Select 'Click here to access your subscription'.

Searching

Enter your search terms, then select the Search button on the right of the screen.

You can enter search terms in as many search boxes on the screen as you need. To search for several words or phrases, type in AND, OR, or NOT between them.

• AND retrieves records that contain all of the search terms you have entered.
• OR retrieves records that contain at least one of your search elements.
• Default to AND: For example, a keyword search for fifth monarchy men retrieves all records containing the three words fifth and monarchy and men anywhere in the record.
• Phrase searching requires double quotes. Thus: "fifth monarchy men" retrieves only records containing that phrase.

Truncation and Wildcards

Use ? to represent one unknown letter within a word. Use * for more than one.

• Searching for monarch* finds monarchist, monarchy, monarchism etc.
• Searching for mu*zer finds munzer, muntzer muentzer.
• Searching for m?n finds entries including men and man.

Keyword search

The Keyword box searches all fields in the record and is often the most useful.

Subject search

• Use the Subject Terms field for subject searching.
• To retrieve entries relating to a specific person, type in the person's name with the surname first, e.g. Cromwell, Oliver.
• The subject search field also includes a browsable index (see Browsing below).

OR

• Select ClioNotes icon. These pages, organized by region, will guide you through the history of the world since 1450, allowing you to browse chronologies and brief summaries of significant events and themes in world history. This process eventually leads to expertly constructed searches on the topics covered.

Browsing

• It is often impossible to know the correct way to enter a subject or other search. 
• Click the magnifying glass icon next to the search boxes to display the index. 
• This index can be searched and the correct form of a person's name or subject term can be chosen. 
• Use "Paste terms" button to put this correct term into your search screen.

Time Period Search

• You can search by time periods. 
• The easiest way is to click the Browse icon and select one or more time periods by clicking the relevant boxes, and then click "Paste Term" 
• 1700H means the century beginning at 1700AD. 
• 1660D means the decade beginning at 1660AD. 
• This feature is usually combined with some other search term to limit your results to a relevant historical period.

Results

• Results are displayed in the Results Window.
• Clickon a Result from the list and press Enter to display the full record in the main window
• If there is only one Result, the full record is displayed in the main window.

Displaying and tagging results

• Search results are shown on a Short Entry Display with 25 records to a page.
• Links to full text articles are clearly indicated in both Short Entry and Full Entry displays if applicable to that entry.
• To view the full record (with abstract) of an article select Display Full Entry.
• To create a short list of result you can mark or 'tag' the entry by selecting the Tagged box.

Warning: tagging does not cumulate from one search to the next and there is no access to previous results via a 'search history' table.

Options for Printing, Saving and Emailing

To print, save or e-mail results, click on the Output Options button on the left. Select the appropriate options:

• Entry Format: select Short Entry or Full Entry.
• Request Entry: select All Entries or Tagged Entries.
• Output Type: select the appropriate format.

Printing and Saving a file

• Select ASCII Display
• Click on the Submit button.
• Use your browser's print function to print OR the Save As function to save to a file.
• Use your browser's Back button to return.

E-mailing

• Select E-mail as the Output Type.
• Type the e-mail address in the text box (each separated by a space if more than one address).
• Click on the Submit button to e-mail the selected entries.

E-mail Alert

Historical Abstracts Alerting Profile allows you to record a specific search strategy and receive monthly e-mail notification of any new records which match this search.

• From the main search page, select CLIO Alert Profile
• Select Create a New Profile
• Follow the instructions to create up to 10 profiles.

Hints

• Click on the Help button on the left for more detailed information.
• From the Search screen, click on the name of any search field to display relevant help.
• Or ask at the Information Desk in your library.
• To abort a lengthy search, click on the Stop button on the Web browser. Click on the browser's Back button to return to the Search screen if necessary.

Logging off

• Select the Exit button on the left side.