Best Bets for Starting Your Research in...

:: History ::

Use databases to find articles on your topic. These databases are the best place to start.

• America: History and Life
  Covers the history and culture of the U.S. and Canada from prehistoric times to the present.
  Date coverage: 1964-present.
  
  
• Historical Abstracts
  Citations and abstracts to the history of the world from 1450 to the present, excluding U.S. and Canada.
  Date Coverage: 1954-present.

• JSTOR
  An archive of academic journals in many disciplines, including history, archaeology, literature, philosophy, and classics.
  Date coverage: 19th century - 5 years ago.
  
  
• New York Times Historical (Database)
  The New York Times - Historical offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
  Date coverage: 1851 - 4 years ago.
  
  
• Project Muse
  Collection of full text, peer-reviewed journal articles, with emphasis on the humanities and social sciences. Date coverage: 1993-present.
  

Tips: When searching databases, use AND, OR, and parentheses to focus your search.

The asterisk * symbol will search for all variations of a word. For example: basket* will search for baskets and basketry. Using quotes will search for a phrase.

Combine synonyms with OR and put them inside parentheses, like this:

(Greek OR Roman) AND (histor* OR government*)

Here's another example:

("Alexander the Great" ) AND (war OR conquer*)

Already have the citation? Find an article with citation linker!

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Find books using the library catalog. Browse these subjects to get general information on your topic.

1. United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
2. History, Modern--20th century
3. Middle Ages

Search the library catalog! Find books, media materials, and more.

Other searches:
Browse | Advanced Search

Tips: When searching the library catalog with keywords, use the dollar sign ($) to search for a word and all of its variations.

For example: government$ will search for governments, governmental, etc.

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Reference tools such as dictionaries and encyclopedias are good places to start your research because they provide an overview of the topic as well as keywords, dates, and facts.

Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Handbooks

• History Reference Center (Database)
  Provides articles from magazines, journals, reference and non-fiction books; biographies, documents and speeches; maps and photographs. Also includes film and video clips of social, political and cultural historical events of the 20th Century from 1893 to 1985.
  
  
• Historical Statistics of the States of the United States
  Quantitative historical information covering: population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, governance, and international relations, all from the earliest times to the present.
  HA 202 EB E-Book available online
  
  
• Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History
  Ref DT14 .A37435 2005
  5 vol. comprehensive encyclopedia of world history with 538 articles that trace the development of human history

• A Dictionary of World History
  E-Book available online
  Online dictionary with short survey-type articles
  
  
• Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing
  Ref D14 .E53 1999 V.1- V.2
  Essays on historians and new branches of debate in the area of history
  

Tips: Try looking at the bibliography at the end of the entry for a list of other sources such as relevant journal articles and books.

When you have found books on your topic, look at the books on the shelf nearby to see if they are related to your topic.

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These web sites have been evaluated by librarians (that's a good thing) for your use in an academic setting.

• American Memory
  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
  From the collections of the Library of Congress: includes many primary documents, maps, photographs.
• Guide to Modern European History
  http://www.library.yale.edu/rsc/history/european/home.html
  From Yale University.
• Historic Documents and Texts
  http://www.iconn.org/AdditionalResourcesHistoric.aspx
  Links to many online documents from the iConn Digital Library.
• History on the web
  http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/History/tm/
  Links to many sites organized by historical period
• In the First Person
  http://www.inthefirstperson.com/firp/index.shtml
  Oral history collections in English from around the world.
  
  Tips: Any web site can be changed without notice, so be sure to evaluate every site you use.

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• Find a video/DVD in the catalog
• Find an e-book in the catalog
• Automatically create a bibliography using RefWorks
• Use Chicago Style (e-book)
  
  Still have questions?

• Get help 24/7
• Via Web chat (available 24/7) at
  http://www.fairfield.edu/lib_askalibrarian.html

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