Finding the scholarly literature and sources
-
Historical Abstracts from EBSCOhostHistorical Abstracts indexes citations, abstracts, and full text from journals, books, and dissertations that cover the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more. Full text available as HTML and PDF. The database allows limiting results to specific time periods (not just publication dates). You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1800s-present.
-
History of Science, Technology & Medicine from EBSCOhostThe History of Science, Technology, and Medicine database indexes citations and abstracts of journal articles, conference proceedings, books, dissertations, maps, and other materials on the history of science, medicine, and technology. 1600s-present.
Academic journal archives (could be primary or secondary, depending on use)
-
PAO: Periodicals Archive OnlineComplementing the better-known JSTOR with a more international orientation, PAO is a archive of more than 700 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences since their first issues. More than 150 are in languages other than English. Coverage is from volume 1, issue 1 of each journal, and all issues are digitized from cover to cover.
-
JSTORJSTOR (from Journal STORage) is an archive of academic journals in the humanities, social science, and sciences, from earliest issues up to 3-6 years before present. So for some purposes, it is a collection of secondary sources and for others, primary sources.
If you want to do a comprehensive, up-to-date search of the literature on a topic, don't begin in JSTOR; start in a discipline-specific database instead. JSTOR articles are exact facsimiles of originally as originally printed: they will include information may be obsolete and may use words that have shifted meaning and/or have become regarded as inappropriate, incomplete, or worse. But if you want to know what scholars in, say, the 1930s said about controversial topics like race, some religious traditions, gender and sexuality, or mental or physical impairments, you will need to use search terms that match words of that time, not ours, even though they may offend you deeply. -
HeinOnline Law Journal LibraryIn addition to its library of legal scholarship on all topics, Hein offers large and wide-ranging collections of historical and contemporary primary sources in public law, including legal and administrative codes, treaties, constitutions, organized thematically and by source.
Indexes to popular and specialist literatures
-
C19: The Nineteenth Century Index: Periodicals (from ProQuest)Portal to citations in American and British periodical indexes from the "long" 19th century. Search individually or cross-search with several governmental and book indexes. Tech won't necessarily have online or physical access to every indexed item.
-
Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982 from EBSCOhostReader's Guide Retrospective indexes citations to articles published in popular magazines and newspapers published in the United States.
-
Book Review Digest Retrospective from EBSCOhostCollecting nearly eight decades of H.W. Wilson's Book Review Digest, this archive database provides over a million book review citations from 1903 to 1982. It covers adult and juvenile fiction and nonfiction and provides at least one review excerpt per book.
-
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 from EBSCOhost Humanities & Social Science Index Retrospective offers the ability to search a wide range of important journals in the humanities and social sciences as far back as 1907. Coverage also includes content from H.W. Wilson’s International Index.1907-1984.
-
Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective: 1908-1981 from EBSCOhost The Index to Legal Periodicals Retrospective indexes citations to articles and summaries in annual surveys of laws and courts, legal journals, and legal yearbooks. 1908-1981.
Background: overviews and themes in world history
-
Gale EbooksGale Ebooks is a collection of searchable ebook reference works, formerly known as Gale Virtual Reference Library. You can search within a particular work or across the entire collection. Individual articles from these sources are presented in HTML and PDF. Illustrations, photos, maps, and multimedia content is often included.
-
World History in Context from GaleGale In Context: World History provides curated topic pages with academic journal articles, primary sources, reference works, news sources, multimedia, and biographies on people, countries and cultures, conflicts, organizations, religions, events, periods, and economics. Talk to your instructors about whether using materials from pre-selected sources in this database is acceptable under the Honor Code.
Language learning
-
Rosetta StoneRosetta Stone requires users to go through a course shell in Canvas.
Rosetta Stone is a language-learning platform offering instruction in 25 languages through an immersive approach. It features interactive lessons, TruAccent® speech recognition to refine pronunciation, and tools for naturally building vocabulary and grammar skills. The platform includes flexible learning options, and is designed to support learners at various levels. For assistance, please contact Edward Lener, lener@vt.edu, and Craig Whetten, whettenc@vt.edu
-
Pimsleur language program courses (on CDs)
If you want to learn on the go or don't want to depend on internet access, the Virginia Tech Libraries have a large collection of language learning compact disks that you can check out. Some parts are missing.
These links will show you their disk numbers numbers and check-out status.
- Arabic (Egyptian), Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Hindi, Italian (incomplete), Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese.
- English for Arabic speakers, English for Cantonese speakers, English for Mandarin speakers, English for Spanish speakers.
These audio CDs are shelved on the fifth floor of Newman Library between the Folio (oversize) books and the "C" stairwell. Audio disks are shelved in simple numerical order (like the DVDs on second floor), not by call number or subject.
Many public libraries offer entry-level online language-learning tools like Mango Languages and Transparent Language (among others) to residents with appropriate library cards. (Virginia Tech students qualify for cards at the Blacksburg library and other branches of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library District [MFRL] no matter where their homes are.)
- MFRL: under eLibrary: learning
- Alexandria: under Books & More: Digital Collection: Online learning
- Arlington: under eCollection: Categories: Languages
- DC: under Research: Research Guides: Libguides: Language learning
- Find Maryland public libraries
- Find Virginia public libraries
Check with your local and/or hometown public library about resources it makes available to its members.