Check out these video tutorials.
If you're having trouble, you can also try these strategies.
1) Use quotation marks to search for specific phrases like "voting rights." This will connect these two words and filter out documents that don't mention the words in sequence.
2) Be specific if you can. Identify proper names, campaigns, court cases, events or other words that may lead you to relevant sources. If you don't know what names to search do some additional background reading to generate a list.
3) Separate words with OR to find variations. When searching names use variations separated by the word "OR." "John Lewis" OR "John R. Lewis" OR "John Robert Lewis" OR "Representative Lewis" will bring up articles that contain any variation of his name.
4) Use NOT if you are getting results that aren't relevant and want to weed some out.
You can also set up an appointment to get help!
What is an archive?
An archive as "a place in which public records or historical documents are preserved" (Merriam-Webster). Archives contain archival materials, which "are information objects that serve as evidence of past events" (Peter Van Garderen, 2007). You'll be viewing archival materials during your Rose Library sessions.
Although some institutions might have more distinct meanings for the two terms, "special collections" is often at least related to, if not synonymous with, "archives."
What is a digital archive?
A digital archive is similar in purpose to a physical archive, but the historical documents and objects that provide evidence of the past have been digitized (often by scanning or photography, unless a document was created digitally in the first place) and made available online.
Digital archives are usually created with a goal of preserving historical objects and making them available to researchers.
Being asked to find a "digital archive" is much more specific than just being asked to find a "website."
For more details on these distinctions got to this excellent guide form Sam Houston State library.
To find subscription databases (1) search discoverE, (2) search databases at Emory, or (3) ask Erica!