MC Library Research Guides: Irish American Heritage: Research

Databases

Academic Video Online Premium This link opens in a new window
This resource has over 65,000 video titles in subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, history, music, film, and more. Video types include documentaries, feature films, interviews, performances, and news programs among others.
American History in Video This link opens in a new window
Includes 2,000 total hours of streaming video content and more than 5,000 titles. The collection allows students and researchers to analyze historical events, and their presentation over time, through commercial and governmental newsreels, archival footage, public affairs footage, and important documentaries.
Bloomsbury Video Library This link opens in a new window
Offers more than 1,500 films from artists and independent filmmakers and includes films covering visual and applied arts, film studies, media studies, music and dance, and history and philosophy. Also includes masterclasses, documentaries and interviews.
Digital Campus This link opens in a new window
A collection of major studio motion pictures, available for individual viewing or in-class use only (no public performances). Mac users, please note, access to movies via Safari is not supported. Please use the latest versions of Chrome or Firefox.
Digital Theatre+ This link opens in a new window
Digital Theatre+ is the world’s leading educational platform for the performing arts with unlimited access to over 1,000 full-length productions and educational resources.
Docuseek2 Collection This link opens in a new window
Docuseek2 provides educational streaming access to documentary and social issues films and videos.
Feature Films for Education This link opens in a new window
Offers hundreds of full-length feature films for educational instructional purposes.
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Includes thousands of streaming video titles in the Academic Master collection from a variety of publishers including Films for the Humanities & Sciences, PBS, Film Board of Canada, and many more. New titles added monthly. These titles are also accessible through RaptorSearch. Mobile apps are available for iOS and Android devices.
Kanopy This link opens in a new window
TIP: Use Chrome or Firefox when accessing videos for best viewing experience. Collection of streaming videos in all genres - from documentaries to movies to training videos.
Media Education Foundation Collection This link opens in a new window
Hosted on the Kanopy streaming video platform, the Media Education Foundation's collection of over 100 streaming documentary films focusing on the social, political, and cultural impact of mass media on American society.
Music & Performing Arts (Alexander Street) This link opens in a new window
Cross-searchable interface for Alexander Street Press music and performance databases. Includes Classical Music in Video, Classical Scores Library, Dance Online, Film Scripts Online, Music Reference Collection, Opera in Video, and Theatre in Video. Also includes Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.
Naxos Music Library This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive collection of classical music available online providing streaming access to both standard and rare repertoires. Included are classical, world, jazz, and pop/rock music. Additional resources include libretti, pronunciation guide, and glossary. 5 simultaneous users.

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Complete is a scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 12,500 journals and a total of more than 13,200 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc..
American Historical Periodicals from the American Antiquarian Society, Part I–V This link opens in a new window
Collection of books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, periodicals, music, and graphic arts material printed through 1876. Common themes depicted include industrialization, western expansion, and regional political differences.
American National Biography Online This link opens in a new window
American National Biography (ANB) offers portraits of more than 17,400 men and women whose lives have shaped the nation.
Art and Architecture Source This link opens in a new window
Includes full-text coverage for hundreds of periodicals dating back to 1937 and full-text for hundreds of books. In addition, it offers a robust collection of images provided by Picture Desk and others.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online reference library with a wide selection of reference books. Search or browse by subject. These titles are also accessible through RaptorSearch.
eHRAF World Cultures This link opens in a new window
eHRAF World Cultures contains ethnographic collections covering all aspects of cultural and social life.
Gale Directory Library This link opens in a new window
Includes the US and International editions of the Encyclopedia of Associations and other selected directories.
Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
Biography in Context is a comprehensive database of biographical information on over 340,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas. It combines more than 435,000 biographies from over 1,000 volumes of more than 135 respected Gale sources.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
GenderWatch indexes over 200 scholarly journals, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and ebooks on the evolution of gender roles as they affect men and women. Includes some full-text.
Historical New York Times (1851-2020) This link opens in a new window
Includes full text from the New York Daily Times (1851-1857) and the New York Times from 1857 to 2020. For current New York Times articles, use the ProQuest Newspapers database.
Historical Wall Street Journal (1889-2012) This link opens in a new window
Includes full text from the Wall Street Journal from 1889 to 2012.
Historical Washington Post (1877-2007) This link opens in a new window
Articles from the Washington Post and the Times Herald from 1877 to 2007. For current articles from the Washington Post, use the ProQuest Newspapers database.
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Contains journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre and performance in 126 countries.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR includes archives of nearly three thousand academic journals across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, as well as select monographs and other materials valuable for academic work. Journals are included from volume 1, issue 1 and include previous and related titles; the most recently published issues (past 3-5 years) are not available.
Oxford Reference Online Premium This link opens in a new window
Brings together language and subject reference works into a single cross-searchable resource. Offers over 300 fully-indexed, cross-searchable dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works published by Oxford University Press and a selection of partner publishers' scholarly works. Includes detailed information across a broad subject range from titles in the Oxford Companions Series.
Oxford Scholarship Online This link opens in a new window
Thousands of ebooks in all subject areas, with new titles added on a monthly basis.
ProQuest Primary Sources Collection This link opens in a new window
Collection of over 160 multidisciplinary primary resources, including books, journals, dissertations, primary-source documents, and videos.
Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Provides access to databases covering international literature in social sciences, including politics, public policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, criminology, linguistics, library science, and education. Featured databases include International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), Sociological Abstracts and Worldwide Political Science Abstracts.
SocINDEX with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Sociology resource containing full text for 860 journals (dating back to 1908), over 800 books, and thousands of conference papers.
Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
Online version of the Statistical Abstract of the United States; provides a comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
Theology & Religion Online This link opens in a new window
Provides access to two authoritative resources for Judeo-Christian Biblical studies, the Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries and Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. These two resources can be cross-searched on the platform or navigated to separately for browsing via the "Browse Collections" link.
World Folklore and Folklife This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary resource of the world's folklore and folklife, touching on topics of literature, social and religious practices, history, art, music, and languages.
World Religions This link opens in a new window
Covers matters of belief, practice, celebrations, and holidays; important individuals and events; significant and sacred places; and more for over 50 world religions. Contains both reference and primary source materials.

ACLS Humanities E-Book This link opens in a new window
The ACLS Humanities E-Book Project is a collaboration of thirty-one learned societies, over 100 contributing publishers, and the Michigan Publishing division at the University of Michigan Library. The result is an online, fully searchable collection of high-quality books in history, recommended and reviewed by historians and featuring unlimited multi-user access. These titles are also accessible through RaptorSearch.
eBooks on EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
Includes reference works, scholarly monographs, literature, and other fiction. You can search for ebooks by title, keyword, author, or full text and can browse the book online or "check it out" after creating a free online account. Checking out a book allows you to view the book anywhere, anytime for the specified check out period. These titles are also accessible through RaptorSearch. For information on how to use e-books on EBSCOhost, please see this helpful guide.
Fiction Core Collection (H.W. Wilson) This link opens in a new window
The selective list presented in this collection features classic and contemporary works of fiction recommended for a general adult audience, written in or translated into English.
Gale Books and Authors This link opens in a new window
Reader’s advisory database with browse functionality, reviews, award winners and themed book lists, and more to help you find your next book to read.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
A selected collection of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. For a current title list of our offerings, see the List of Sources once you are in the collection. These titles are also accessible through RaptorSearch. For information on how to use e-books on Gale, please see this helpful video.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Comprised of information found in Contemporary Authors Online, offering biographical coverage of more than 120,000 writers; Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, featuring entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95; and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, containing more than 10,000 biocritical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars. It also includes selected full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material from Gale's Literature Criticism and For Students Series.
Poetry & Short Story Reference Source This link opens in a new window
Selected works of major and minor American and English poets, along with international poetry with representation from each continent (accompanied by English translations, when available). Includes Critical Survey of Poetry and Critical Survey of Short Fiction, over 712,000 full-text poems, both classic and contemporary, over 53,000 full-text short stories, both classic and contemporary, and 11,000 dramatic works.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to over 30,000 eBooks and 600 journals in the humanities, arts, and social sciences from 100 scholarly publishers.
ProQuest Ebook Central This link opens in a new window
Online collection of academic ebooks that can be read on- or offline. These titles are also accessible through RaptorSearch. For information on how to use e-books on ProQuest, please see this helpful guide.
WorldCat.org This link opens in a new window
WorldCat includes all materials cataloged by OCLC member libraries (including Montgomery College) and contains over 62,000,000 records.

Britannica ImageQuest This link opens in a new window
Curriculum-relevant imagery and clip art materials (infographics, signs and symbols, graphic concepts) from 60 leading collections, including the Bridgeman Art Gallery, Getty Images, Ingram Publishing, and the National Geographic Society. All images are rights-cleared for educational, non-commercial use.
Encyclopedia of American Studies This link opens in a new window
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press for the American Studies Association (ASA), the Encyclopedia of American Studies covers the history, philosophy, arts, and cultures of the United States in relation to the world, from pre-colonial days to the present, from various perspectives and the global American Studies movement.
Ethnologue : Languages of the World This link opens in a new window
Ethnologue contains information on over 7,000 known living languages, organized by world area, UN region, and country.
Europa World of Learning This link opens in a new window
Contains full directory details for 36,000 entries including over 14,000 universities and colleges, 4,000 libraries and archives, 5,000 learned societies, 6,500 research institutes, and 4,900 museums and art galleries. There is coverage for more than 225 countries and territories throughout the world, and for 600 international organizations.
Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides full text for hundreds of journals and books and cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts and selected coverage for hundreds of publications. Variety movie reviews from 1914 to present and a vast image collection from the MPTV Image Archive are also included.
Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new window
Comprised of essays and other writings from literary criticism series such as Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Shakespearean Criticism, Short Story Criticism, etc. that represent a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras and genres.
Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window
Comprised of information found in Contemporary Authors Online, offering biographical coverage of more than 120,000 writers; Contemporary Literary Criticism Select, featuring entries on all authors appearing in CLC since vol. 95 of the print series and complete profiles of 266 most studied authors from editions prior to vol. 95; and Dictionary of Literary Biography Online, containing more than 10,000 biocritical essays on authors and their works written by academic scholars. It also includes selected full-text, excerpted, and commissioned critical material from Gale's Literature Criticism and For Students Series.
Mango Languages This link opens in a new window
Language learning software for over 70 languages, including Spanish, French, Pashto, Urdu, Hindi, Mandarin, and Cantonese, as well as 15 ESL courses taught in native languages.
National Geographic Virtual Library This link opens in a new window
This collection brings together a complete archive of National Geographic magazines along with a cross-searchable collection of National Geographic books, maps, images and videos. This Virtual Library includes: National Geographic Magazine Archive, 1888-1994; National Geographic Magazine Archive, 1995-Current; National Geographic: People, Animals, and the World; and National Geographic Kids.
Pop Culture Universe This link opens in a new window
Digital library of information on American and world popular culture. This database can be searched or browsed by decade starting with the 1920's and moving up to the 2000's.

Search Strategies

The MC Library has access to different kinds of search tools:

RaptorSearch: Searches across most of the information that you can access through the MC Library. Find books, e-books, streaming audio and video, and DVDs and CDs as well as articles and other electronic resources from databases available through the library.
Databases: Collections of articles, videos, images, or other types of sources. Some databases cover a wide range of subject areas or source types (multidisciplinary), while other databases are discipline or format based (e.g., PsycINFO or AP Images).

Use the tabs in the box below to find suggested databases or other search tools to use for a variety of types of sources.

MC students, faculty, and staff can access all of our search tools and online resources from on or off-campus.

Research Skills & Tips:

How to Access Library E-Resources

Identify Different Types of Information Sources
by Niyati Pandya Last Updated Oct 9, 2023 589 views this year

Unlike Google, library databases can't understand an entire sentence. You'll need to break your topic down into the most important ideas: the keywords.

Keywords are individual words or short phrases that represent the main ideas in your topic, thesis, or research question.

Example Question: How has Irish American heritage influenced cultural practices in contemporary America?

Keywords: Irish American heritage, influence, cultural practices, contemporary America

After you've identified your main ideas and some keywords to start with, think of additional search terms for each concept. These can be synonyms, related ideas, broader terms, or narrower terms. Since a database will match only what you type, using different terms for similar ideas can help you find more articles.

Example Search Terms:

Irish American heritage: Irish American culture, Irish ancestry in America
influence: impact, effect, shape
cultural practices: traditions, customs, cultural behaviors
contemporary America: present-day America, modern United States

Now that you have identified keywords, you will enter them in your chosen search tool's search box. Try more than one combination to find different sources.

Use the search operators AND & OR to combine your search terms. Use quotation marks to search for a specific phrase, with the words in that exact order: "Irish American heritage"

Use AND between your main ideas to narrow your search (all words will be found in each source):

"Irish American heritage" and influence and traditions and America

Use OR to look for related search terms, in one search (at least one of the search words will be found in each source). This will increase the number of sources you find. Put related search terms in parentheses, and combine with other terms:

"Irish American heritage" and influence and (traditions or America)

Research Skills & Tips:

Search Library Databases Effectively
by Niyati Pandya Last Updated Dec 6, 2023 215 views this year

Filter Results:

To make your results more manageable, use the database filters to limit your search results. For example:

Full-text access: To ensure that all items from your search results include the entire article or publication, select "full text" from filtering/refining options on the search results page.
Source types: If you know you only need peer-reviewed journal articles, select peer reviewed. Or, if you want to see only magazine articles, e-books, or another type of source, you can select only what you need.
Publication date: If your sources must be from within the last five years, you can set the year of publication to reflect that.

These options may be found in different locations of a database’s results page. In RaptorSearch, filter options are found on the left.

You can also set these options before you search from the Advanced Search screen in most databases.

Sort Results:

Most database search results will be sorted by relevance. You can change this to sort by newest first, oldest first, etc. Look for the sort options near the top of the results list.

More Research Tools

RaptorSearch This link opens in a new window

Library Research Guides

MC Library's research guides are built by MC librarians to help students use library resources for a wide variety of academic subjects. The research guides linked below may be helpful to you if you would like to learn more about Irish American Heritage.

History
by Richelle Charles Last Updated May 8, 2024 273 views this year
HIST 114
by Grace Gu Last Updated May 8, 2024 186 views this year
HIST 116
by Grace Gu Last Updated May 8, 2024 59 views this year
HIST 117
by Grace Gu Last Updated May 8, 2024 237 views this year
HIST 146
by Niyati Pandya Last Updated May 8, 2024 85 views this year
HIST 200
by Grace Gu Last Updated May 8, 2024 128 views this year
HIST 201
by Jenny Hatleberg Last Updated May 8, 2024 182 views this year
Mythology
by Niyati Pandya Last Updated May 8, 2024 91 views this year

Irish American Heritage: Research

Databases

Search Strategies

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