Guide to American Journey Online

Navigating within American Journey Online first requires an understanding of how the database is organized. As noted earlier, there are fifteen modules within the database. Eight are organized by topic and span the whole of American history:

• The African-American Experience
• The Asian-American Experience
• Civil Rights
• The Constitution and Supreme Court
• The Hispanic-American Experience
• The Immigrant Experience
• The Native American Experience
• Women in America

The remaining seven are organized loosely by chronology, though that chronology does not necessarily cover the whole of the American experience:

• The American Revolution
• Westward Expansion
• The Civil War
• World War I and the Jazz Age
• The Great Depression and the New Deal
• The Cold War
• The Vietnam Era

Each module shares a number of common elements. All contain general statements of Introduction that sketch the contents of the particular module and often provide links to selected sources within the module. (Some modules include links in their Introduction statements, some do not.) Reading through the Introduction for a module is a good way to begin exploring it. It is also a good way to locate additional sources for further research, as each Introduction save the one for "The Cold War" contains a list of Other Resources (usually books) on the topics covered in the module.

Once users have read through the Introduction to a module, they are ready to begin exploring its Contents. All modules within the database contain a Contents list that details the different ways that sources are organized and may be located within it. With two exceptions, all modules within the American Journey Online contain the following sections:

• Key Topics
• Years
• Documents
• Images
• Authors
• Regions
• Multimedia

Each of these sections will be discussed at length below. "The Immigrant Experience" and "The Asian-American Experience" contains all of those sections plus one on Graphs. "Women in America" contains all of the enumerated sections except Regions. Each of these sections within the module allows users to locate sources in a different way. The following suggestions are offered for making the most of each method for locating sources.

Each module contains a list of Key Topics that can be selected from the Contents list. The best way to begin familiarizing oneself with a module is to read through those Key Topics, as they introduce users to the main issues, topics, and historiographical debates covered in a particular module. Clicking on Key Topics from the Contents list brings the module's list of topics onto the screen. And clicking on an individual topic from the list will bring that topic onto the screen. Each Key Topic is normally divided into subsections, which may be accessed by selecting the links at the top left of the first page of the Key Topic. Or a Key Topic may simply be read in its entirety by scrolling down. The Key Topics are all linked to the contents of the module, so users interested in a particular item highlighted in the text of a Key Topic can access it directly by clicking on it. Each Key Topic contains a list of Related Items at the top. This feature, which in fact is found in all of the sources in the database, is a handy way to locate documents and images that relate to the document or image already selected. (A word of warning, though: sometimes the related items are conceptually related to the item in question and may not relate to it chronologically.) Finally, each module's individual Key Topics contains a list of Other Resources directing users to additional sources on that topic that may be located or accessed outside of the American Journey Online.

Once users have become familiar with a module's contents through its Key Topics, they should peruse its chronological coverage by using the Years function. By going to Contents, then Years, users receive a list of important dates covered in the module. Selecting one of the dates listed brings up a screen that provides a selectable overview of events important to the module's topic that occurred in that year. It also often (but not always) yields a list of links to documents and images relevant to that year. (Users are cautioned here that sometimes the sources listed in this way, as with those in the Related Items lists, are not always chronologically relevant.) The Years function is most helpful for users trying to determine whether a particular module contains sources for a particular time period or year. They should be careful, though, to check other methods of source location besides the Years function, because not all sources within a module are included in its Years listing.

Another way to locate sources within a module is to search the list of Documents each contains. The Documents function in each module is an alphabetical listing of all documents by title. It is searchable by initial letter of a title, or it can be scanned in its entirety simply by scrolling down. Using the Documents function is a good way for users to determine what specific documents a module contains. It is most helpful if users have some idea of what they're looking for, although simply scanning the lists can be enlightening and informative. A few cautions are in order when using the Documents function. First of all, selections in the modules from larger works begin with the word "Excerpt" in the database to signify that they do not reproduce a selection or document in its entirety. This means that in the Documents list they come under "E," rather than the initial letter of the title of the original document. Second, some documents have titles like "Letter to Her Parents" that are not especially descriptive. Users who are scanning the Documents lists are therefore advised to liberally click on titles to determine just what the documents in question are. (Users are also advised to read through the Commentary associated with each document, as they provide historical context and explanation that facilitate understanding of each document.)

The Images function within the modules works like the Documents one. Users may select Images from the list of Contents to receive an alphabetical list of all visual sources contained in the module. This list may be searched by initial letter or scanned as a whole. As with the Documents search, it is not always clear from an image's title what exactly it is, so users should be as liberal in their exploration of the titles in the Images function as they can.

Much the same may be said about the Authors function. Clicking on Authors from the Contents list of a module yields an alphabetical list of the names of people who wrote the documents contained in that module. Again, Authors is searchable by specific letter, or it may be scanned in its entirety by scrolling down. Users who have a specific author in mind will find the Authors function especially useful. Documents compiled by governmental agencies and departments can be somewhat tricky to find through the Authors function, and users are advised to attempt to locate those sources through other searches if possible.

All of the modules save "Women in America" allow users to search by Regions. This is a wonderful way to locate sources that deal with a particular geographical area. The modules take different approaches to dividing up their Regions. Some use states or colonies; some geographical regions of the present-day United States; some different parts of the Western Hemisphere. "World War I" and "The Cold War" utilize European battle sites and other regions of the world, respectively. "The Civil War" relies on battlefields as well. Users seeking geographic-specific sources will find the Regions function particularly useful. They should be warned, though, that oftentimes documents are included under several different regions when they have no definite geographical focus of their own, so just because a source is listed under a specific region, it may not necessarily deal specifically or only with that region.

The Multimedia function of each module provides a list of sources that contain an audio or motion picture component. (Each selection offers users two different technical options for playing the clips, with an opportunity to download the appropriate software if necessary.) These clips are identified by title, and users selecting a title are directed to a screen that provides an introduction to the particular clip and the chance to choose the method through which they wish to hear or view the clip.

As indicated above, "The Immigrant Experience" and "The Asian-American Experience) also contain a Graphs function through which users can locate graphs displaying data relevant to immigration. Many of these graphs are linked sequentially so that users can follow the progression of certain types of immigration to the United States over time. In addition to the different ways of utilizing the Contents sections of the modules, there are other ways to search the American Journey Online. One is to search for sources through the Index. Each module contains an Index, which is an alphabetical listing of different individuals, concepts, and topics covered within it. The entries to the Index may be accessed by the initial letter of a person, event, or concept. Sources may then be selected by clicking on them from the Index entries. Searching for sources through the Index can be very helpful for locating sources related to a particular topic. Users wishing to use the Index should employ some creativity in the search terms they look under, as items are not always located under the first term a user may come up with.

A final way that sources within individual modules of the American Journey Online may be located and accessed is through the Search function.

Using Search allows users to look for sources that contain a certain word or phrase. This is another way to locate related sources and is especially good to use if you are not sure of the title of a particular document but thing you know a word or words in its title. Once users type their word or phrase in the search box, they receive either a message saying their search yielded no results or a screen listing the source(s) that the search returned. The Search lists which pages of particular documents contain the word or phrase in question and gives users the chance to click on that page and view it directly. It may take you a while to get used to the Search function, especially when constructing words or phrases to Search for. But persistence does pay off, as the Search can be a very helpful way to locate sources, and especially to find groups of sources on a related subject.

In addition to the preceding comments about working within individual modules of the American Journey Online database, a few words are also in order about working within more than one module. The opening page of the database allows users with the opportunity to Search two or more AJ Archives. By clicking on that option, users are able to select two or more modules from the database and conduct a search by word or phrase. (It is also possible to search all of the modules at once.) The results of this kind of search are displayed in the same manner as searches for sources within a single module, and users may access the sources in the same manner as well. This particular function is an excellent opportunity for users to discover all that the database might contain on a particular issue or topic. It is also a good way to determine where in the database sources on a specific question or issue might be located. One final piece of advice on using sources in the database is in order before turning users loose on the chronologically organized activities. Documents in the database do not provide a page count so that users know how long they are. (The only way to determine a document's length is to Search for it, as the results for searches contain the total number of pages in a document, as well as the page(s) relevant to the search term.) This can be somewhat problematic for users reading through documents in the database, because sometimes it may seem that the end of a document has been reached when it really has not. Therefore, once users have come to the bottom of the screen of a particular document within a database, they should click the Next>> box (located at the top of the screen) to move forward within the document. This step should be completed at the bottom of each page of the document until the database displays the message "You have reached the end of this document. Click the '<<Previous' button to return to the last page." The database does not signal when the last page of a document has been reached, and sometimes it is not easy to tell from reading it. So when in doubt users should verify that they have indeed reached the end of the document by clicking Next>>.