Online Resources:
A full list of online reference materials can be found through our Amity Library web page, under "Find Online Stuff" (by Database Name).
Some resources of interest include:
ABC-CLIO allows entry to the main portal page for all six ABC-CLIO databases, covering areas like modern history and war, and current issues.
ABC-Clio World History: The Modern Era offers a comprehensive electronic library of historical reference materials and interactive curricular units
ABC-Clio World at War presents comprehensive information and unique insights into the military conflicts that have defined our world from antiquity to today.
ABC-Clio American History investigates the people, events, and themes of our nation’s evolution from the explorers of the Americas to today’s headlines
ABC-Clio American Government explains the foundations of our government, connects these concepts to the issues of the day, and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the political and economic systems of the United States by comparing them to those of other countries.
ABC-Clio Issues explores more than 800 hot topics in business, politics, government, education, and popular culture.
ABC-Clio Pop Culture Universe presents authoritative digital database on popular culture in America, both past and present.
Academic Search Complete covers a wide range of academic disciplines, from the behavioral and technical sciences, through education, theatre, and many more. It includes some popular magazines as well as scholarly journals. This is the FULL version of Academic Search, and includes about 9,000 full-text journals, about double the number available in the Premier version.
Biography Reference Center allows you to search for important figures throughout history, using useful categories like “Activists and Reformers”, or “First Ladies”, or by “Nationalities”. You can also browse alphabetically. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
Chronicling America's historic newspapers and "select digitized newspaper pages,(are) produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC).” One of the best ways to search is to limit the search years, and then use really broad search terms, like “battle” (for WWI battles).
Connecticut History.Org is a program of CTHumanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, in partnership with UConn's Digital Media Center and the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. It is a digital resource that includes links to other sites that provide information about Connecticut's towns.
Discovery Education contains digital content, interactive lessons, real time assessment, virtual experiences. Use your regular school sign-in. Teachers: If your regular username does not work, try firstname.lastname.
GreenFILE is a multidisciplinary source of scholarly, government and general-interest titles that makes connections between the environment and a variety of disciplines, such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology. Topics covered include global climate change, green building, pollution, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, recycling and more. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
The History Reference Center features full text for more than 1,990 reference books, encyclopedias, non-fiction books, and academic journals. This content includes historical documents, biographies of historical figures, full-text reference books, encyclopedias, history books, historical photos and maps, and historical video. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
JSTOR includes scholarship published in more than 1,400 of the highest-quality academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as monographs and other materials valuable for academic work.
Mainfile is a multi-disciplinary database that covers all aspects of academic study and general interest subject areas. It has information from scholarly journals and full-text magazines, as well as full-text newspapers, newswires, reference books, and encyclopedias. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
MAS Ultra School Edition contains hundreds of popular high school magazines in many subject areas including history, science, careers and much more. Some titles are Archaeology, Astronomy, Bioscience, Careers & Colleges, Congressional Digest, Scientific American, Smithsonian, World War II. MAS Ultra also has biographies and primary source documents, and an Image Collection containing photos. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
MasterFILE Premier provides full text for magazines, reference books, and primary source documents in business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more, as well as an Image Collection containing photos, maps, and flags. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
News and Newspapers, (also called News and Issues, depending on where you access it) is a ProQuest database available from ResearchItCT (iConn). Search for articles from current newspapers from about the 1980s to the present, such as the Chicago Tribune (1985-), Christian Science Monitor (1988-), Hartford Courant (1992-), Los Angeles Times(1985-), New York Times (1980-), Wall Street Journal (1984-), and the Washington Post (1987-). There are also historical Connecticut newspapers, including the Hartford Courant (1766-1922) and the Connecticut Courant. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
Newspapers of Connecticut collection includes a sampling (not a full range) of newspapers covering various towns, villages, and topics ranging from 1821-1929. Some of these articles have been arranged by topic, like World War I.
Newspaper Source Plus provides more than 1,400 full-text newspapers. Videos and podcasts are coming soon. This ResearchIT CT database is accessible from off-campus with your Amity login.
SIRS provides resources for many subject areas: arts and humanities, government, civics, economics, world events, 20th Century history.
Online Resources: Newspapers and Magazines
RBDigital magazine service
- Available through public libraries in the Lion Libraries system (including Bethany, Orange, Woodbridge, and (many more on this map)
- Log on to your public library with your library card, find the e-magazine link (the database is called RBDigital), and create an account on RBDigital.
- Looks like a real magazine on screen!
Bloomberg Businessweek: RBDigital
Kiplinger's Personal Finance: RBDigital
Newsweek: RBDigital (last 5 years) or ResearchItCT (archives)
The Nation: RBDigital
The New York Times Replica Edition: (Find in library Database list).
Every page of The Times on your computer or iPad, exactly as it is in print. You can listen to articles read aloud, and even save PDFs of each page. Play around with the different viewing and search functions.
TIME: Available through
- ResearchItCT (iCONN) Popular Magazines.(Find in library Database list).
- One-click access from school, use your local CT Library card from home.
- Works like a database to search for articles, AND you can browse articles
The Wall Street Journal: Available through
- ResearchItCT (iConn) Newspapers. (Find in library Database list).
- One-click access from school, use your local CT Library card from home.
- Works like a database to search for articles, AND you can browse articles
Additional Newspapers: Available through
- ResearchItCT (iConn). Newspapers. (Find in library Database list).
Search for articles from current newspapers from about the 1980s to the present, such as the Chicago Tribune (1985-), Christian Science Monitor (1988-), Hartford Courant (1992-), Los Angeles Times(1985-), New York Times (1980-), Wall Street Journal (1984-), and the Washington Post (1987-). There are also historical Connecticut newspapers, including the Hartford Courant (1766-1922) and the Connecticut Courant. FROM OFF CAMPUS YOU NEED YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY CARD CODE for ResearchItCT.org.
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ChicagoStyle (updated 10-2018)
As of the 2016-17 Amity's History Department has decided to use Chicago Notes and Bibliography Style (footnotes) as its citation style.
Citing Chicago Style - Amity Librarians’ Quick Guide
Resource developed by Amity librarians with the most commonly used sources and how to accurately cite them. Includes bibliography format as well as how to cite in footnotes.
Citing Chicago Style - Purdue OWL
Very practical and reliable guide published by renowned Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL). Chicago includes two basic documentation systems: notes-bibliography style (or simply bibliography style) and author-date style (sometimes called reference list style). Here are the basic differences:
-Notes-bibliography style (required style for History at Amity):
The basics of the note-bibliography style are as follows: Whenever you need to cite a source, a superscript number is placed in the text at the end of the sentence or part of the sentence that contains the paraphrase or quote taken from your source.
The same number corresponding to that reference is placed, normal-sized, in the footnote area at the bottom of the page or the end of the section (your teacher’s choice).
The first time a source is used in a document the entire bibliography form is used in the footnote, but the footnote format is slightly different. The second time the citation is used in the footnote it is shortened even more (see rules). When the same source is used twice or more in a row, you write “ibid” (which means “the same”), and change page number if needed.
A full bibliography at the end of the paper includes all complete source citations sources with their complete citation forms, in alphabetic order.
-Author-date style: In the body of the text, author names, dates, and sometimes page numbers in parentheses indicate cited sources, which are then listed by their entire source citation. A full bibliography at the end of the paper includes full source citations.
Citing Chicago Style - University of Chicago Press Quick Guide
Excellent set of examples published online by the University of Chicago Press.
Sample Chicago-style papers:
Footnotes and bibliography style paper (from OWL)
End-notes and bibliography style paper
Chicago-Style Guide Poster (from OWL)
Use your NoodleTools account for easy citing!
Primary-Source Resources
History (example World War I)
History Reference Center
(Find in library Database list).
When you do a search for a topic, you can limit all your results to only primary sources by checking the box on the left for “Primary Source”
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ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Hartford Courant
(Find in library Database list).
Since the Courant is a newspaper, any article written near the time of the war can be considered a primary AND a secondary source. When you search for newspaper articles, set the “Publication Date” for sometime BEFORE 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, etc.
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World at War (ABC-CLIO Database)
(Find in library Database list).
In the World War I section, look at the links on the left for the different kinds of primary source documents. Click on each format to view those materials.
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Library of Congress: “Chronicling America”
The U.S. Library of Congress is compiling historic newspapers from many states in Chronicling America. You will find “information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages...produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program”. One effective way to search is to limit the search years to those surrounding specific events, and then use really broad search terms, like “battle” (for WWI battles).
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This collection includes a sampling (not a full range) of newspapers covering various towns, villages, and topics ranging from 1821-1929. Some of these articles have been arranged by topic, like World War I.
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Connecticut Digital Newspaper Project
The Connecticut Digital Newspaper project is a learning and teaching site that has material for students, and teaching resources for teachers. The Guides to Newspaper Content include several study units on different aspects of World War I. These units include background material, instructions on how and where to search for primary sources, and some sample search results to start you off.
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The British Library “World War One”
These article are written by academic experts and researchers.
Look at the themes presented here, including “Propaganda”, or “Civilians”.
Under each theme are sub-topics, like “Children’s Experience and Propaganda”.
Follow the links to related articles.
Primary source images can be found on the side of the articles, in a list of “Related Collection Items”.
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Follow through the presentation in order, from the Introduction, through the color coded 4 chapters.
In each section, there is “more” information, and the right side-bar has maps, links, and commentary.
If you get confused, use the main menu.
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“World War One” from the BBC (England)
This site is set up more like a magazine than a database.
You just have to browse the different topics, because it is not set up for searching.
Look at guides with titles like: “The Real War Horses”.
Primary source documents here are mostly photographs.
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Additional World War One Resources
Tons of other online resources for WWI at WWI Education Resources for Teachers
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How to Cite Primary Sources
The Library of Congress’ “Using Primary Sources” provides instructions for citing your primary sources, everything from newspapers to photographs and oral histories. Be careful to check that the versions of MLA and Chicago used are the most recent.
Use Noodletools to accurately cite primary sources.
Open Web Resources: Supreme Court
There are a number of quality sites that compile information about the history, function, and decisions made in the United States Supreme Court. Here are just a few of them for written decisions, and audio transcripts and recordings of oral arguments.
Transcripts of oral arguments are available the day after the hearings. This site contains arguments from October 2000 to the present. These transcripts are permanently archived on this Web site.
Argument Audio: These audio recordings of oral arguments heard by the Supreme Court are listed by case name, docket number, and the date. The National Archives holds recordings of cases from 1955 to the present, though the website starts at 2010. The recordings are maintained at The National Archives and Records Administration.
The Oyez Project is a public, searchable archive of public sessions recorded in the Court since 1955. The audio collection covers all audio from the 1968 Term through the current 2010 Term. Before 1968, the audio collection is selective.
For online availability, free searching of the U.S. Reports is available at Findlaw Supreme Court database and the Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell University. Subscription-based databases of the U.S. Reports are also available. For more detailed information on where to find opinions, please see Where to Obtain Supreme Court Opinions.
U.S. Government Resources
The U.S. Government itself has a number of websites that offer information about how the federal government is structured and operates.
The U.S. Congress has now provided a comprehensive web site and database, Congress.gov, to search legislation from 1973 to the present. You can use the Advanced Search and/or filters to limit to bills that are pending or passed.
The U.S. Senate maintains a site offering information about the history and workings of this branch of government. There are separate sections that might be useful for students, like the overview of the legislative process, and explanations about the process for bills and resolutions.
The News Manual, in its own words, "is a free online resource for journalists, would-be journalists, educators and people interested in the media. It has developed from the three-volume book 'The News Manual', which was published with the help of UNESCO as a practical guide to people entering the profession and to support mid-career journalists wanting to improve their skills. It includes useful information, like descriptions of the various roles in journalism.
Library of Congress Analysis Tools give guidelines for students to analyze history resources like photographs, political cartoons, primary source documents, newspapers, maps, and other kinds of information.
You can create your own historical newspaper using this template.
Sign into your Google account, open the Google Presentation Newspaper Template, and make a copy of it ("File" menu) to your own drive. Don't forget to rename it.
Now you can customize your newspaper, changing the name, date, description, headlines, articles, and images. Since it's a presentation format, you can create textboxes for your text columns and put them anywhere you want.
