Research Guides: Military, naval, aerospace, and veterans studies:

What's on this page

This page is divided into sections devoted to getting help

from the VT Libraries about our resources and services
directly from our vendors about platforms and interfaces that are used
1. by across many disciplines (eg, Ebsco, ProQuest, Gale, Adam Matthew, JSTOR, MUSE, SAGE)
2. by major ebook aggregators (ProQuest, Ebsco, HathiTrust, ACLS, Internet Archive)
3. to locate current and archived new sources
4. to locate government and legal information
5. to locate research data
6. to use our online mapping/GIS tools (Social Explorer, SimplyAnalytics, PolicyMap)
7. to access and use the features of streaming video
8. to measure scholarly impact.

But you might just do a keyword search on this page for the name of a vendor whose platform vexes you.

1. General help pages from widely used providers

About the ProQuest platform (libguide)
VT Libraries provide several dozen databases from ProQuest, including some essential resources for political science, business/nonprofits, and history researchers. Libguide pages from ProQuest provides detailed help for mastering searching, interpreting records, and managing search information.
- ProQuest search tips
- Search results
- Document view
- Searchable fields
- "My Research" accounts (results management)
- ProQuest individual database guides A-Z
- eBook Central
- AVON streaming video
EBSCO Connect
VT Libraries and our statewide consortium, VIVA, provide dozens of subject-oriented databases on the EBSCOhost platform for searching the literature in many social science and humanities fields. Many Ebsco databases provide direct access to the full text of articles and (with DRM restrictions) ebooks. This portal for training aids can help you with:
Ebsco Help also offers its own LibGuide and YouTube tutorials.
If you contact a VT librarian about a problem in a database on the EbscoHost platform, please identify the specific database, not the merely generic "Ebsco."
Gale Databases: Training Material
Portal to training materials and videos for the many primary- and secondary-source databases provided by one of our major providers of content in humanities and current affairs, from Gale -- including products VT does not subscribe to.
Adam Matthew Digital support
Each Adam Matthew database has a detailed Help function built in and keyed to the content of that database. The "page-by-page guides" address
- getting started and using "My archive" accounts
- working with document images
- searching
- using interactive maps, interpretive essays, and other supplemental materials
- Example: East India Company
- Example: Advertising America
Faculty may be interested in
JSTOR: Search Help: Resources & Overview
JSTOR provides lots of guidance about its archived journals, ebooks, and primary sources. In addition to the selected webpages below, look for how-to advice in JSTOR libguides and the JSTOR YouTube channel .
Project MUSE Resources
Information about MUSE ebooks and journals, personalizations, citing, MUSE content in various styles, and the MUSE search browser plug-in.
- User guides: basic information, often in video
- Research help: detailed advice about searching the MUSE platform
- Frequently asked questions about access, license terms, technical issues, and journal and book content
SAGE Publishing
SAGE is a major publisher of books, journals, reference works, and numerical data. CQPress is a division of SAGE.
- DataPlanet libguides: by subject , including help about data in general, contents and features on the DataPlanet platform, statistical information on popular topics, and data sources for many countries and US states.
- SAGE Research Methods : faculty resources aren’t only for faculty. Topics include advanced search tips, research tools such as the “methods map” that are built into the SRM platform, and , using SRM videos and incorporating SRM into common courses in disciplines like history, sociology, and business.
- CQ Press Library: Help. CQ Press provides a number of databases on US politics that are updated annually or more frequently (like this). The same techniques for searching, browsing, citing, and managing apply across the database; for distinctive features of each, see its Help link in its page banner. (Many CQ political reference sources have migrated to the SAGE Knowledge book platform.)
- SAGE Video libguide
Internet Archive Archive.org help center
Help mostly about accessing and downloading digitized books and other texts, but also has sections about using Internet Archive's web, audio, video, and software archives. IA's Introductory tour video is rich but rather long.

more... less...

Tech's Discovery Search includes access to IA's digitized books that are still protected by US copyright, along with many more in the public domain. IA's rules for "borrowing" in-copyright ebooks are very restrictive -- good for short-term reference checks but awkward for attentive reading and simply unsuitable to use as assigned texts in classes.

Get help using VT Libraries

VT Libraries help services

The library homepage includes a QuickLinks menu, directing users to pages highly used by undergrads, grad students, and faculty. A site map link appears below the maroon swoosh on the bottom of library webpages.

The Ask a Librarian links appearing throughout the site direct you to people who can help you by phone call, text, or email -- along with a searchable directory of answers to frequently asked questions.

Our various research guides page direct you to resources in academic subjects as well as tools and techniques for using the resources and services of the Virginia Tech libraries and other other academic libraries.

Odyssey, our "learning object repository," offers a growing list of how-to videos and handouts, addressing topics that include

Discovery Search (aka WorldCat Discovery)
Finding and checking out printed books
ILLiad interlibrary loan for getting your hands on books and articles
- How to create your ILLiad account (PDF)
- How to request and use ILL materials (PDF)
Digital literacy
Research processes, practices, and tools for undergrad projects
and more.

2. Ebook platform help

ProQuest eBook Central
Ebsco eBooks User Guide
HathiTrust topic guide
HathiTrust brings together and catalogs books digitized by Google and the Internet Archive. More information.
ACLS Humanities E-Book collection overview
- Limits on saving and printing.
- Title list
Digitalia Hispánica help
Textual help is in English, with a video tutorial in Spanish.

3. News/journalism databases help pages

Factiva user guide
Guide to using the powerful search and retrieval tools for our premier database of news reporting from around the world.
- Learn to Keyword Search within Dow Jones Factiva (YouTube video)
- Search Builder Quick Reference Guide (PDF)
- Search Builder Cheat Sheet to make searches more efficient

Guide to NewsBank Access World News

Guidance for using this database of world journalism and NewsBank "Special reports" along with tips about finding a research topic and dealing with "fake news." Resources for Remote Use and Online Learning includes

How-to videos about searching, focusing, and managing/sharing results
User stories about teaching, learning, and engaging the public with AWN
Recorded webinars about products.

Readex: learn more

Readex is a major provider of our library's digital archives of historical US newspapers and imprints. Readex is a division of NewsBank, and practical advice searching, interpreting, and managing results in the Readex platform appears in the NewsBank support pages.

Instructors may also be interested in overviews and applications of Readex collections

On-demand training videos oriented around Readex individual Readex products and collections
On-demand webinars videos about teaching, using Readex collections
Event talks. Wide-ranging talks by scholars at Readex-hosted events
Course mapping services, available on request, provided visual representation of the relationship among selected Readex products and actual courses.

East View Russian-language serials: help

Tips for working in East View's archived Russian newspapers

Global Press Archive: help

Navigating and using the (mostly) open-access newspapers from around the world from the CRL-East View alliance.

4. Law, policy, & government database help pages

HeinOnline Knowledge Base
Things to know to get the most from our primary provider of law reviews, primary sources in US and foreign public law, and the like. VT does not subscribe to all the Hein products that may be discussed in their support materials.
- HeinOnline YouTube channel, including How to Search in HeinOnline, a six-minute video
- Lengthy PDF Comprehensive User's Guide.
- To improve the precision of your Hein searches, see also Advanced Search Syntax User’s Guide.
- Libguides provide detailed description of the content, searching and browsing tips, and support resources for each Hein collection, organized by collection title and by topic.
Fastcase User Guide
Exemplars of commonly used search syntax are built into the search screen. Detailed help for search interfaces, syntax, and managing results is available in two major formats:
- Video tutorials on Fastcase's YouTube channel.
- Downloadable PDF documentation and resources.
Voxgov Help
Connect via "Search syntax?" link beneath the search box. Illustrated guidance on using search and visualization interfaces; Boolean, phrase, wildcard, and proximity syntax; filters; comparisons, personalization, and more.
Policy Commons YouTube channel
Combines brief how-to demonstrations of using search features with lengthy presentations about "gray literature" vs traditional scholarly publications.

5. Research data providers' help pages

The Virginia Tech Libraries belong to non-profit, university-based repositories like ICPSR (numerical data), QDR (qualitative data), and Roper Center (public opinion polls). Those repositories typically offer information more broadly about research methods, data-related issues, and instructional materials. We also buy data collections from commercial vendors.

Locally, the library's Data Services unit offers both expertise and facilities to support your data-related work across the research lifecycle.

ICPSR [Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research]: Find & analyze data
ICPSR's site site also includes broader advice on accessing, downloading, and using its datasets.
Qualitative Data Repository (QDR): Guidance & Resources
QDR's "diverse guidance and resources to help researchers to prepare their data for sharing via QDR, and to access and make use of data projects stored in QDR."
Roper Center Learn
How-to information about using Roper Center's own tools for research and classroom use, along with information about the fundamentals and history of public opinion polling
Data Planet Statistical Ready Reference
"Libguide" covers processes and contents for using the rich and varied content of our principal collection of numerical data. See also these companion guides
- Data Planet Statistical Datasets Quick Reference
- Data Planet Libguides listed by topic and searchable
- Data Basics. Research advice: tips for finding, evaluating, interpreting, and using statistics
Economist Intelligence Unit [EIU] Tutorials
Video overviews of the content and functionalities of EIU products that the Tech library subscribes to. EIU reports combine country and regional forecasts, analysis, and aggregate data for ~200 "geographies":
- EIU Viewpoint, 2021- : How to find everything you need
- EIU Country Reports, 1996-2021, archives on a different platform (eiu.com...) from Viewpoint's.

6. Mapping and related visualization tools help pages

Social Explorer Guide
Video and animated learning modules for faculty, students, and librarians. Tabs important domains for using maps, including political science, history, and public health, point to curated maps, datasets, and "teach & learn" modules for classroom instruction. See also
- Help Center
- How-to Guides and Videos
SimplyAnalytics Support
How-to information is available in the Support menu in banner atop the SimplyAnalytics interface. Highlights:
- Intro to SimplyAnalytics video
- Training Guide (downloadable PDF)
PolicyMap Support
Most help for users is behind the Support menu in the databases page banner. Highlights:
- Tutorial guides walk you through the most popular features.
- PolicyMap Primer. Summary of features in downloadable PDF .
- Quickstart Video is a 3-minute introduction.
- Training Video Gallery .
- Mapchats Blog.Case studies and the like applying PolicyMap to current and historical policy problems.
- Mapchats Webinars.Recorded "deep dives" about the application of GIS, data, and maps to analyze problems and policies.
Links may change as PolicyMap rolls out a new version (in Beta in early spring 2021).

7. Streaming video providers' help pages

Academic Video Online and Alexander Street
AVON incorporates and adds to content in our existing Alexander Street streaming video collection. You may encounter both interfaces.
- Document View - AVON Videos. Searching and viewing content of Academic Video Online (AVON) on the ProQuest platform.
- Academic Video Online libguide. Using AVON's visual search interface.
- Alexander Street In Depth. How-to videos about using the functionalities of Alexander Street's visual interface: extracting clips, creating playlists, searching, using the video and audio players. Also provides extensive, text-based Help section.
- Using ProQuest and Alexander Street in Canvas ... for Instructors. Recorded training webinar.
Docuseek Help Wiki - for users
Documentaries on Docuseek will come to Virginia Tech in January 2021.
Films on Demand Quick Start Guide for Educators
Most of the other parts of the FoD support center are directed at site administrators.
Film Platform User Guide
Addresses login, search, sharing film links in Canvas, email, etc .
Kanopy Help Center: For Viewers
Articles about using the Kanopy service, the interface, technology problems, viewing on different devices.
Swank Digital Campus Streaming FAQ
Common questions, answered.
SAGE Video
Libguide to using the SAGE video platform also includes a tab addressed to faculty.

8. Research and impact metrics help

The following are vendors' own support resources. For advice on representing the significance of your work, see the Tell Your Story: Impact & Engagement guide.

Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) Training Portal
Guide to Clarivate (formerly Thomson Reuters, formerly ISI) products, including Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports [impact factors], Essential Science Indicators [rankings], and also the EndNote reference manager. Points to text guides and videos. Don't overlook the built-in help link in each Clarivate product; though you may need to drill down some to reach substantive help.
See also:
- Web of Science Core Collection Help.
- Master journal list. The journals indexed in the various Clarivate databases.
Scopus: access and use support center (from Elsevier)
This landing page addresses search techniques and syntax.
See also:
- Quick reference guide PDF
- Scopus tutorials. Animations; descriptive text available.
SciVal: learn & support (from Elsevier)
Includes "quick-start" video introduction and metrics guidebooks to Elsevier's database of "the research performance of over 10,000 research institutions and 230 regions and countries."
Funding Institutional resource center (from Elsevier)
"Funding skills training" section offers online lectures on finding research funding and writing winning grants

Military, naval, aerospace, and veterans studies: "How do I do this? support sites