| About Sharpe Online |
INTRODUCING… SHARPE ONLINE REFERENCE
CORE REFERENCES IN U.S. HISTORY AND CULTURE
U.S. History in Context
Offering a unique, interdisciplinary approach to U.S. History and Culture, Sharpe Online Reference (SOLR) explores the broad range of events, people, movements, and political, social, economic, and cultural issues that have shaped the nation from colonial times to the present day.
Special Online Content
In addition to revised editions of M.E. Sharpe’s award-winning encyclopedias, Sharpe Online Reference includes several special enhancements and online resources—all fully integrated and easy to use—to expand and enrich the research experience.
SOLR Web Links Collection
Organized by historical periods and topical categories, this collection of links provides direct-click access to nearly 650 carefully selected and vetted Web sites pertaining to American history and culture. All sites have been selected for authority, depth and quality of information, and stability. Brief descriptions help guide students to the sites of choice in their area of interest.
Primary Source Archive
This compelling text and media module makes history come alive through first-person accounts, vintage illustrations, document reproductions, and a selection of multimedia features—including audio recordings and video clips—of seminal historic events, notable figures, speeches, court rulings, and social and artistic movements. Consisting of more than 250 documents, images, and audio/visual clips from colonial times to the twenty-first century, the archive also includes a visual timeline for context and navigation, and concise commentary on every text and media item.
Image Gallery
For users interested in exploring the extensive photograph collection in the SOLR collection of encyclopedias, the Image Gallery provides easy navigation and ready access. Search for a specific subject or browse alphabetically, then click on a thumbnail for full-size display, caption text, and a link to the corresponding encyclopedia article.
Search and Navigation Tools
SOLR offers a variety of methods for exploring the span and depth of American history and culture, depending on the interests and preferences of the user: by word search, by topical selection, or by alphabetical browsing.
Access a specific title—or change titles at any time—by clicking on “Select Titles” along the upper row of tabs. If you prefer to conduct a search across all titles available to you, use the “Quick Search” window at the upper right-hand corner of the screen, or select “Advanced Search” for expanded options and refinements.
Full-Text Search
The SOLR search engine is a powerful and versatile tool for finding information on a specific subject of interest. At any level—whether “Quick Search,” “Advanced Search,” or “Search Title”—you can simply type in a word or term of choice, click the button (or hit “Enter” on your computer keyboard), and be presented with a list of items in which that word or term appears, highlighted in red. To search for instances of a full phrase, enclose the exact sequence of search terms in quotation marks.
SOLR also allows you to focus your full-text search and limit the results by activating standard “Boolean operators”—AND, OR, and NOT—in the “Advanced Search” and “Search Title” modes. In either case, the results will be listed in order of relevance to your search term. Additionally, you will be able to limit your results by selecting specific content types (articles, images, master bibliographies, chronologies, and maps) in which the search will be conducted.
For example… If you are interested in finding any and all articles in which the writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald both are discussed, type “Hemingway AND Fitzgerald” (no quotes) in the search window, and check the “Articles” box in the Categories list. You might also add "NOT Kennedy" to the search term, so as to exclude from your results list any extraneous references to John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
A more precise way to conduct the same search would be to type the two phrases “Ernest Hemingway” AND “F. Scott Fitzgerald” (each full name surrounded by quotes) in the search window, then select “Articles.”
Finally, if you are interested in finding photos of either one of these men, construct your word/phrase search and then select “Images” instead of “Articles” in the Categories list. Likewise, if you are interested in finding recommended books about them, select the “Master Bibliography” category.
Note: The difference between “Advanced Search” and “Search Title” is that the former allows you to conduct a full-text search among all or any combination of encyclopedias available to you, while the latter confines the search to a single title. The difference between “Quick Search” and “Advanced Search” is that the former limits results to articles, primary documents, and images in all encyclopedias available to you; the latter covers any or all selected content types and any or all selected encyclopedias
Topic Finder
Another method of finding information in SOLR, which many users may prefer at one time or another, is by area of interest. For this purpose, the Topic Finder provides a useful, easy-to-access navigational tool for any specific encyclopedia (one at a time). Once you have selected a particular title, click the “Topic Finder” tab and you will be presented with a simple, two-level index that lists broad topical categories (such as “Arts and Popular Culture,” “Organizations and Institutions,” and “Women and Women’s Issues”) at the top level. Click on any of these headings, and a list of all encyclopedia articles in that subject category will open out. The individual titles provide direct-click access to the full article text.
Alphabetical Browse
Yet another approach to exploring the contents of SOLR is more akin to browsing the book edition of an encyclopedia—alphabetically. While this may present an easy option for finding and accessing certain specific, known articles (“Adams, John” or “Baseball,” say), it is also a way to sample the breadth of content in a more random, undirected fashion. (The alphabet is a great “randomizer”!) Whatever your purpose or inclination, the “Browse” feature for each SOLR title—accessible through the appropriately labeled tab—provides a master list of articles and other text elements in alphabetical order. As in the Topic Finder, clicking on any title will take you to the corresponding article.
Article Links and Navigation
Finally, online access affords the opportunity to explore and navigate individual articles and others associated with them in a more thorough, streamlined manner. Thus, every article of every encyclopedia in SOLR includes these valuable tools:
“Article Outline” tab: providing a concise table of contents for each article, with direct-click access to individual sections;
“See Also” links: a list at the end of every article identifying topically related entries in the same encyclopedia, with direct-click access;
“Further Reading” or “Bibliography”: a list at the end of every article identifying recommended sources for further information on the subject at hand; and
”How to Cite” tab: indicating proper article citation style for a student report, in Modern Language Association (MLA), American Psychological Association (APA), and Chicago Manual of Style formats.
My Folder
This area allows authenticated (logged-in) users to access and manage saved research records, encyclopedia information, and personal profile details. The area includes four useful features—“My Bookmarks,” “My Notes,” “Saved Search,” and “Edit Profile”—each accessible by means of a separate tab. Having selected “My Folder,” the user accesses the “My Bookmarks” feature as a matter of default. He or she may then select any of the other three feature tabs. Bookmarked items, notes, saved searches, and profile information are specific to the authenticated user and can be added, modified, or deleted only by him or her.
My Bookmarks
This features enables users to save any article or document for future reference and direct-click access. Items can be saved (with a date and customizable title) by clicking the appropriate button on the article or document page. When retrieved in “My Bookmarks,” the saved item is displayed in a pop-up window; it can also be edited or deleted.
My Notes
This feature enables users to make brief written comments in any article or document—or any location within it—for easy retrieval and review at a later date. Notes can be created (with a date, description, and title) by clicking the appropriate button on the article or document page. The noted article or document appears in a pop-up window in “My Notes” for direct access to marked content; it can also be edited or deleted.
Saved Search
This feature enables users to keep a record of encyclopedia search results for future reference. The results screen for any word/term search (list of “hits”) includes a window labeled “Save this search as.” If you would like to save a particular results list, type a name for it in this window and click “Go.” The list will be automatically saved, along with others you have created in the past, in the “Saved Search” feature of “My Folder.” To access any list, click on the name you designated for it. To delete any list, select the corresponding check box and click “Delete.”
Edit Profile
Clicking on this tab enables users to view and modify their personal profile, including name, contact information, and password.