Historical Research Guide
BOOKS: research aids, primary documents, and secondary sources:
U.S. History Sources & World History Sources
These are links to bibliographies of historical sources available at Owens Library. Bibliographies are highly valued by your professor and by librarians because they lead you to multiple, relevant, and essential sources.
Library Catalog
Search for books in the Owens Library collection and in MOBIUS (statewide catalog). Request MOBIUS books while in the Catalog rather than though Interlibrary Loan.
EXAMPLE (link displays results): s:lincoln and (s:sources or s:personal narratives or s:correspondence or s:diaires) More Library Catalog Search Tips for Historical Topics
|
|---|
eBrary
ebrary Academic Complete contains over 36,500 electronic book titles, and one of the of the areas covered is the humanities and history.
WorldCat
The WorldCat
advanced search includes limiting by format, e.g., archival material. Also, WorldCat helps you broaden your research beyond the collections of Owens Library and other academic libraries in Missouri (MOBIUS). Order books not found through the Owens Library or MOBIUS catalogs via Interlibrary Loan.
Special Collections
Ask to use resources located in Owens Library Special Collections at the Library Services Desk, 1st floor. Locate the Civil War Collection housed in Special Collections (2nd floor) by searching the Library Catalog for the "Tom Hooper's Civil War Collection."
PERIODICAL ARTICLES: primary and secondary sources
History Databases
America: History and Life covers periodical (i.e., journals, magazines, newspapers) literature about
history in the United States and Canada. Historical Abstracts indexes literature about world events outside of the United States
and Canada. Both are searchable through EBSCOhost and can be searched simultaneously. Once connected to any EBSCOhost database, click "Choose Databases."
![[ choose databases ]](choose.gif)
Current & Historical
Newspaper Sources
Newspaper indexes and newspaper articles often use terminology
reflective of their readership when indexing or reporting stories and opinions.
The New York Times Archive
This site allows you to search the The New
York Times and retrieve selected full text of articles back to
1851. Users must search the archives in two parts: 1981 to present
and 1851 to 1980.
Articles from 1851 to the present
are also available in B.D. Owens Library on microfilm. The Library
also has this index in print on the North Wall on first floor. The
call number is Ref 016.07 N53n.
NOTE: Terminology changes over time. The United States Civil War may be referred to as War Between the States, War, War on Slavery, etc. during different time periods. World War I was not the first world war until the second world war occurred. Older indexes may place topics under general subjects such as slavery or religion, rather than specific aspects of the subject. Generate a list of synonyms of terminology used at the time the historical event occurred. |
WEB (free) sources:
History WWW Resources
This Web page provides links to resources about
African American history, Hispanic American history, U.S. history, Asian
American History, Native American history, Women's history, German
American history, primary sources and world history.
In the First Person
"In the First Person is a
free, high quality, professionally published, in-depth index of close to
4,000 collections of personal narratives in English from around the world."
Selected sources are available in full text.
Sources for Locating WWW Resources
This guide helps users locate WWW resources. It links to lists of reviewed sites, subject directories, and search engines.
Search the Internet
Find links to search engines, directories, and search
tools. Searching tips are also provided.
Evaluating Information Sources
Apply four criterion (who, what, when, & why)
Web resources to validate Web resources.
Locate other research facilities:
LIBWEB: Library Servers via WWW
Some of the libraries listed have digitized archives.
CITING sources:
Turabian
& Chicago Citation Style Examples
These examples follow the citation style of Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 7th ed. and The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed.
Search the Library Catalog using the following search tips:
Keyword Searching:
Sources may be retrieved by combining important words (keywords) with
the operators AND, OR, NOT. A sample keyword search is shown below:
| french and revolution |
Learn more about Keyword Searching with Boolean Operators The truncation symbol in the Library Catalog is an asterisk(*). Truncation allows users to stem words or retrieve words with several endings. The search shown below will locate records that include the words slave, slaves or slavery.
| slave* |
Searches may include "nesting." Nested terms are enclosed in parentheses.
The search shown includes nesting:
| (jew* or german*) and holocaust |
Read tips about searching in the Frequently
Asked Questions section of the Library Catalog.
Subject Searching: Historical
subjects are often listed under several subdivisions.
Typically subjects
are structured as follows: Geographic Location History Event or Time Period
|
For example, sources about the French Revolution are available in the Library Catalog by using this subject search: France History Revolution 1789-1799 |
Library catalogs often include cross-references that lead users to subject headings.
|
For example, searching for the subject French Revolution in the Library Catalog retrieves this cross-reference: French Revolution France 1789-1799 |