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Library Instruction for Liberal Arts |
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Social SciencesSearching for Articles in the Historical New York Times Database
This tutorial will discuss ProQuest's Historical New York Times database. The tutorial will describe the database, cover searching tips, and conclude with a brief discussion of other available paper and online databases which index and/or provide full text coverage of the New York Times. Description
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Searching
There is more than one way that can be used to access the Historical New York Times database. The most direct route is to select the Historical New York Times link found on one of the Library databases pages. The button at the top of this tutorial is also a direct link to the database. Another approach is to log onto ProQuest. This may be accomplished either by way of a Library databases page, or directly through ProQuest. If you are accessing the database through ProQuest, once connected to ProQuest change the "Database" selection to "News - The Historical New York Times" by clicking on the arrow to the right of the "Multiple databases" box (as shown below).
The next screen, as shown below, is useful for searching single keywords or phrases. When searching for phrases it is best to enter the phrase in quotation marks (example: "Chicago Illinois" - the comma may be included or excluded, because ProQuest treats commas as a blank space). Note that when using any of the three "Date Range" options it is necessary to enter the date in the proper sequence, which is month-day-year. For example, January 9, 1891, should be entered as 01/09/1891.
Also notice in the above illustration that "More Search Options" are available, which can be used to enhance a search.
As seen in the above illustration, when clicking on "More Search Options" the additional search tools are made available. For example, the "Document Type" tool allows users to limit search results to specific sections of the newspaper, such as obituary notices and editorials. Another useful tool, which is available under "Sort results by", enables searchers to change the order in which the search results are displayed.
By clicking on the "Advanced" search button (as shown below) users are presented with additional search features which can be used to "zero in" on a topic in the Historical New York Times. These features support searching more than one term or phrase with the use of multiple search boxes. Also, users can limit searched keywords and phrases to categories such as in the text only, or article title only. Additionally, words and phrases can be excluded from the search, or words and phrases that fall within a specified range of other words or phrases can be included.
Below are more specific examples of some of the advanced search features:
1. Users can change the settings on any search box to search words/phrases in any part of the newspaper by selecting "Citation and document text". Or, users can choose to search only in the text, abstract, or article title, as well as other options (see below):
2. Keywords and phrases can be combined using the three traditional boolean operators (and, or, not), or two proximity operators (within/3, pre/1) can be used. The and, or, not operators are useful for including, expanding, or excluding terms and phrases. The within/3 proximity operator can be used to find documents where the words being searched are within three words apart (either before or after). The pre/1 operator can be used to find documents where the first word appears one word before another word. To learn more about these and other ProQuest operators, click on "Search Tips" link (see below).
Other Available Print and Online Resources Covering the New York Times
The NSU Library provides access to the New York Times through more than the ProQuest database. This includes the complete run (1851-present) of the New York Times newspaper, New York Times Book Review and New York Times Magazine in hard copy. Also available in print is the New York Times index (1851-present), as well as complete indexing of the book review and magazine publications. Depending upon the time period, the New York Times and related publications will be available in the library either in paper or microfilm format. In addition to the ProQuest databases, below is a partial list of other NSU Library databases which provide some coverage of the New York Times and related publications:
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