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Urban Studies Research Guide: Finding Articles

Core Urban Studies Resources

  • America: History and Life: Contains article abstracts and bibliographical citations of articles on the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from prehistoric times to the present. Excellent index for American cultural history and popular culture. (Online ed.: 1964+, Print ed.: 1954+, in Firestone - Z1236.L331) 
  • Avery Index to Periodical Literature: Offers a comprehensive listing of journal articles on architecture and design, including bibliographic descriptions on subjects such as the history and practice of architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, historic preservation, and interior design and decoration.  (19th C+)
  • Sociologial Abstracts: Indexing and abstracting of the world's literature in sociology and related disciplines, both theoretical and applied. Covers 2,500 journals, conference papers, dissertations, and book reviews. Includes materials in 30 languages. (1954+)
  • Index to Current Urban Documents: Access to full text PDF reports and documents generated by local government agencies, civic organizations, academic and research organizations, public libraries, and metropolitan and regional planning agencies in approximately 500 selected cities in the United States and Canada. Earlier documents are available on microfiche.
  • Urban Studies Abstracts: Covers essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains more than 51,600 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources within the discipline. (1973 +)
  • Urban Abstracts (Print): Compiled in the Research Library of the Greater London Council, covering such topics as city planning, urban transportation, urban development, and urban design. (1974+)

Full List of Urban Studies-related Databses ~ Full List of Architecture-related Database

Journals ~ Newspapers

 

Search Articles+ (not news)

Search Articles+ for scholarly content

Multi-Disciplinary Indexes

EBSCO Academic Search - Cross search this resource with Urban Studies Abstracts and Historical Abstracts

Wilson Omni File: Cross-searchable with Humanities Full Text, Art Full Text, Reader's Guide Full Text, etc. 

Article First: Cross-searchable with up to two others from the suite of databases; try Francis, Avery, and Bibliography of the History of Art. 

Proquest Research Library: Cross-searchable with just about every other Proquest database except for Historical Newspapers. 

JSTOR: A full-text archival resource provding full-text to hundreds of humanities-related journals.  Most of the content is at least 5 years old. 

Quick Searchs in Indexes

Step 1: Familarize yourself with the core architecture indexes & databases AND with the core urban studies indexes & databases.

Step 2: Set up an account with either RefWorks or Endnote. A lot of the databases allow you to directly export citations from the resource into your bibliography or folder.

Step 3: As in the Main Catalog, you are able to truncate, combine terms, and limit your searches but every index or database is a little different.  Be sure to familiarize yourself with the various wildcards & truncation symbols for a given database. This information can be found in the Help topics of a database, often denoted by a question mark, ?, at the top of the main page of the database.

Step 4: Be sure to include these key databases in your research strategy. Regardless of whether they are ultimately a boon to your research, they are are the best place to start and you will be well served by checking these off your to-do list.