Navigating Content
Top-Level Navigation
A set of common navigational links appears at the top of every page. They include About, Advisory Board, Classroom Resources, Help, Home, Browse, Resources, Index, and Blog, as this image demonstrates:
Advisory Board: This link will take you to a page featuring a biography of Advisory Editor Ilan Stavans and a listing of the names and affiliations of the librarians and scholars who helped to develop this site.
Classroom Resources: This section features 25 lesson plans, as well as essays and other resources, written and designed by classroom teachers. Two sample plans – one in English and one in Spanish – can be viewed by clicking on Home Page link.
Browse: Ideal for most users, particularly students looking to narrow an over-broad research topic, this feature allows users to access the Subject Browse (see below), a list of popular topics with expandable lists of subcategories.
Resources: Provides access to Timelines, Image Index, Primary Source Index, selected Landmark Documents, Origins, Spanish Content, Advisory Editor Ilan Stavans’ page, and the complete Title List.
Index: An ideal tool for librarians and advanced researchers that provides direct access to thousands of index terms.
Blog: Your portal to En mi opinion, a blog hosted by Latino American Experience Advisory Editor Ilan Stavans, featuring essays, podcasts, vetted web links, and other features exploring the latest issues facing U.S. Latinos.
The Quick Search box and Advanced Search link appear on the top left side of each page. Below these on the Home Page are the Subjects, links to subjects that appear in the Browse.
Quick Search: Allows you to type in a few keywords and view results. Placing quotes around a proper name or exact phrase can help to narrow results. See more about Quick Search below.
Advanced Search: Allows users to narrow or broaden a search by using various tools and filters. See a more detailed explanation on Advanced Search and how it works below.
Subjects: Ideal for most users, especially students looking to refine an over-broad research topic, the Subject Browse on the Home Page features a list of popular topics, such as "Music" or "Icons," with expandable drop-downs designed to help refine topic areas. Further exploration of the Subject Browse will take users to a three-column Browse design that allows more detailed access to indexing topics and content. See more about the Subject Browse and Browse below.
Featured Content: The center of the home page features rotating content from various site features, including Topic Guides. To see the full text of featured home page articles, click on the title or the “Read More” links.
Resources: At the top right of the home page is an area featuring the following “Resources,” all of which can also be accessed from the top-level navigation that appears on every page of the web site:
Title List: A complete list of the more than 150 books, including multivolume reference works that appear in the site. Users can link to any of the works that have been used in their entirety and navigate through the Table of Contents for an e-book experience.
Timeline: This feature allows users to search through a detailed chronology of Latino American history dating from pre-Columbian Indigenous civilizations through the era of Spanish exploration and colonization to the present.
Image Index: Allows users to navigate through thousands of photographs, illustrations, maps, and other images by using the index.
Primary Source Index: Provides access to thousands of quotations, speeches, court rulings, letters, and other primary sources via the index.
Landmark Documents: This list of links to primary documents, such as treaties, laws, memoirs, letters, and legal proceedings, was selected by a reference librarian. A paragraph explains each document’s significance to Latino or Latin American history.
Origins: At-a-glance and in-depth information on the history, politics, and culture of countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as maps and information about Indigenous civilizations.
Spanish Content: Links to Spanish-language content, including articles, lesson plans, recipes, folktales, primary documents, and vetted web sites.
Topic Guides: This feature is designed to help users conduct targeted explorations of major topics in Latino American history and culture. Each Topic Guide includes an introductory essay; image essay; and links to biographies of key figures, primary documents, lesson plans, timelines, suggested readings, and related content and images.
Skills Center: Provides links to lesson plans on multicultural history and culture, and to research tutors and wizards from the Greenwood Skills Center site.
Most Viewed Articles: Links to the top five most viewed articles in the database.
Top Searches: Links to the top five most searched words or phrases in the database.
Related Topics: Many articles are closely related to other articles within the database. When viewing a particular article, the topics associated with it appear in the left column along with the number of other articles that have been tagged or indexed using that term. Clicking on any of those related terms will take you to other articles that address similar themes.
Printing, Emailing, and Dictionary: From any content page, users can print entries or send content via email to one address at a time. In addition, users can access the American Heritage® College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, from any page on the site.
- Print: By clicking the Print button at the top right of the article view, users can access a “printer friendly” version of the page without any navigation elements. The browser print menu should pop up automatically, allowing you to print a “clean” copy of the article. A complete MLA and Chicago Manual of Style citation of the article will automatically appear at the bottom of the printed page. You can also print from a search results page.
- Email: All authenticated users can email themselves search results and as well as full text content, or links to content, by clicking on the Email link that appears at the top right of the screen. Content is limited to one piece of content or one set of search results per email.
- Dictionary: Clicking on the Dictionary tab will trigger a pop-up screen containing full-text access to the American Heritage® College Dictionary, Fourth Edition, Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Type any word in the Search box and the definition will appear. You can also trigger the dictionary by highlighting a word and then clicking the Dictionary button or by double-clicking on any word on any piece of content in the site. Highlighting words will trigger a pop-up window containing that exact word and its definition within the American Heritage College Dictionary.
Tools: At the top right on the article view there are a list of materials related to the article. These include:
- Citations: Clicking here will provide you with a pop-up window that contains the complete MLA and Chicago Manual of Style citation for the article you are viewing.
- Images: Photos, maps, illustrations, and other visual elements that have been indexed similarly to the article being viewed.
- Links: Vetted web sites that have been indexed similarly to the article being viewed.
Table of Contents & Previous/Next Links: Most books that appear in The Latino American Experience are included in their entirety. If the article being viewed comes from one of these books, the table of contents for that entire book will appear in the right-hand column (beneath the “Related Resources” box). Previous/Next Page links appear at the top of the table of contents, allowing the user to go through the “book” chapter by chapter or entry by entry for an ebook-like experience.
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