When searching for articles, these databases are the best place to start for this course. While there are many full text articles available, if you find one that isn't, please request it on InterLibrary Loan/ILLiad. We will get it to you fast and at no cost.

Databases Focusing on Mathematics:

Databases that cover All History Topics including some Math:

When you search for articles in MathSciNet via AMS, here is how you locate the full text.

1. Click on Article in either the list of results or from the webpage that displays more info about the article.
2. Click on the little blue/green circle.
   
3. This will take you to a place where you can either access the full article OR can place an Interlibrary Loan request via Illiad.

Tip #1: Unlike books, articles can be on very narrow topics. Things like "Approximation by Egyptian fractions and the weak greedy algorithm", not just "Mathematics in Egypt". Just keep that in mind when you are searching. If you do a very broad search, you might find yourself drowning in hits. If that is the case, try adding additional search terms to your search.

Tip #2: Avoid using long phrases, sentences, or sentence fragments.

Tip #3: For short phrases, use quotes to force the computer to search for those words as a phrase. Example "number theory"

Tip #4: Make use of any limiters in the database to narrow your search. Limits like "Peer Reviewed", "Academic Journals", or "Conference Proceeding" can really help narrow down your results.

I don't usually go into much detail about using Boolean search operators for searching, but this is a math course, so I'm jumping in. You can use these skills searching any database, but I find them most useful looking for articles.

AND

Use AND between search terms to force the computer to show you results that have BOTH search terms in the item. This narrows your result set.
Example:  renaissance AND algorithms

OR

Use OR between search terms to allow the computer to show you results that have EITHER search term in the item. This returns more results and broadens your search. This is great for synonyms or if you wanting to include two choices (like two geographic areas).
Example 1: Egypt OR Egyptian
Example 2: Egypt OR Africa

NOT

Use NOT before a search term to tell the computer to EXCLUDE any items with that term. I use NOT very rarely since it often excludes things I actually want. I reserve NOT for occasions where I've done a search and notice a lot of results have a very specific aspect that I want to exclude, or if I'm getting a lot of false hits in a very specific way.
Example: If my search for Mathematics History AND Zero shows lots of results that are about population growth, I might try to change my search to Mathematics History AND Zero NOT population

Putting it all together

Yes, you can combine them. If you do that, parentheses help to contain your OR statements.
Example: (euclid OR diophantus) AND (algebra OR "number theory") NOT "book review"

And for those of you who want a Venn diagram of all this, (because who doesn't love a good Venn diagram?), here you go.