What are the most important words or ideas for your topic or research question? Spend 3-5 minutes brainstorming synonyms or other possible words or phrases that people might use to discuss your topic. Write down as many words as you can before you start searching the databases. Use Google to help if you can't think of any synonyms! 

American Dream

America/American/US/USA

1940s, 1950s, 1960s etc.

Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, etc.

museum

.edu

.gov

You can also search for presidential museums--most presidents have one.

Ex:

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum

JFK Library

The Obama Presidential Center

Try different combinations of your keywords in the search box in each database. You'll get different results, so experiment with your keywords. Enter your keywords in the search box. All your results will show in a list. You can narrow down your search further by selecting a document type, publication title, or subject using the menus on the right side of your results.

Login Note: Many of these are Douglas County Library databases. If you are not on campus, you will need a library card number to log in. 

Gale Databases (eBooks, Opposing Viewpoints, Global Issues, Biography)

Search: type your keywords in the search box.

Your results will be organized into categories:

• Viewpoint Essays: Present each side of an issue or debate

• References: reference books (or chapters/sections of books)

• Academic Journals: articles from specialized scholarly journals; usually highly reliable for research

• Primary Sources

• Images

• Biographies

• Statistical Resources

• Magazines: full text articles from popular magazines

• Newspapers: full text articles from newspapers with multiple perspectives

After you click on a result, LOOK at the right side of the screen for similar articles/chapters and other keyword ideas.

SAVE your results to NOODLETOOLS and your Google Drive using the buttons in the toolbar! (Do NOT use the URL to save your results!)

eBooks Tips:

• The title in blue at the top of the page is the book you are looking at. You're actually looking at a chapter or section in that book that matches your search results. 

• If you click on the blue title, you can see the entire book. 

• Check the table of contents or index to see if other sections of this book have the information you need. Just click to go straight to the section or page you want!

American History Online (and the other Infobase history databases): 

Categorizes search results by Articles, Primary Sources, Images, Videos, and News. Look at the tags on articles to find new keywords and search ideas. 

CITE your results in NOODLETOOLS. Then email yourself the article, or download it and upload it to your Google Drive. (Do NOT use the URL to save your results!)

(Save to Google Drive button doesn't work very well here--try it out, but test it to see if it works before you move on.)

List of Social Studies websites: TRHS Library

The Evolution of the American Dream - The Collector. Type your decade/topic into the search box to find more articles.

American Experience - PBS. Try entering your decade into the search bar, or other keywords.

Smithsonian Learning Lab - Artifacts at the Smithsonian museum. Excellent source for images and visual aids. Type your decade/topic in the search bar, then click the Learing Lab tab at the top to browse different collections.

A Brief History of the American Dream - George W. Bush Institute

Americans Are Split Over the State of the American Dream - Pew Research Center. Reliable data, incl. statistics, charts, and graphs

Historical Decades - US District Court Central District CA

Timeline - SEC Historical Society. Events with an economic perspective. 

1950s: An American Dream - Smoky Hill Museum

Generation T (1950s) - PBS American Experience

What Broke the American Dream for Millennials - CNN

Timeline of the 2000s - Encyclopedia Britannica (online version) (You can find other decades here by searching!)

Timeline of the 1970s - Encyclopedia Britannica (online version)