LibGuides: History: Finding background information

Primary sources in context

These databases combine encyclopedia entries, published scholarship, and primary source documents for history teachers and students.

Gale In Context: U.S. History
World History: Ancient & Medieval Eras
Available to eligible Nevada public, school, and academic libraries thanks to the Institute for Museum & Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act.
World History: The Modern Era
Available to eligible Nevada public, school, and academic libraries thanks to the Institute for Museum & Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act.
United States Geography
Available to eligible Nevada public, school, and academic libraries thanks to the Institute for Museum & Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act.
World Geography: Understanding a Changing World
Available to eligible Nevada public, school, and academic libraries thanks to the Institute for Museum & Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act.
American History (Gilder Lehrman collection)

Reference Guides

Planning your research

Advice on planning a research project and finding and using primary and secondary sources.

Research Skills Primary Sources
Good for: Learning about working with primary sources in history.
Contains: Essays, videos, how-to guides, and case studies.
Bloomsbury History: Theory and Method
Good for: Learning about historiography, historical theory, methods for analyzing primary sources, and schools of thought within the discipline of history.
Contains: Collections of essays and monographs.

The Princeton Guide to Historical Research by Zachary Schrag
ISBN: 9780691215488

Publication Date: 2021

Zachary Schrag begins by explaining how to ask good questions and then guides readers step-by-step through all phases of historical research, from narrowing a topic and locating sources to taking notes, crafting a narrative, and connecting one's work to existing scholarship.
Going to the Sources by Anthony Brundage
ISBN: 9781119262749

Publication Date: 2017

Helps students at all levels meet the challenge of writing their first (or their first "real") research paper. This shows readers how to identify, find, and evaluate both primary and secondary sources for their own writing assignments.

Literature Reviews

Essays by scholars in the field present overviews of the work that has been published on a topic.

Oxford Handbooks Online
Good for: Gaining an overview of how academics have approached a topic.
Contains: Essays describing an area of study and its key methods and sources.
Oxford Bibliographies
Good for: Creating reading lists or consulting overviews of topics to identify significant scholarship.
Contains: Annotated bibliographies focused on areas of study within a discipline.

Video tutorial for Oxford Bibliographies

History Compass
Review articles to get an overview of current scholarship on historical topics.

Booklists, bibliographies and summaries

These research guides from earlier eras are valuable to students writing historiographies. They are arranged by geographical region; editors list and summarize significant books of the era.

The American Historical Association's guide to historical literature (1995)
This guide is an annotated bibliography of key sources in different regions and time periods. Sources published after 1992 are not included, but this can help you identify relevant collections or standard works.
AHA guide 1961 edition
(table of contents cuts off but you can use the page number dropdown to navigate the rest of the book - start with the Frontmatter link and navigate to page xix to pick up where the online table of contents ends. US History begins on page 711.)
A guide to historical literature (1931)
First selected, cumulative bibliography from American Historical Association
Writings on American History
AHA's annual bibliography listing citations to new research in American history, 1902-1990s.
AHA Directory of History Dissertations
The American Historical Assoc. Directory contains details about dissertations that were completed or are currently in progress at 204 history departments in the United States and Canada.

Book reviews

Book reviews can help you identify important works on a topic and identify contrasting approaches or different schools of thought.

H-Net online reviews
Reviews of books and web projects in history and other humanities disciplines

Book Review Digest Plus
Good for: Finding out where reviews of a book were published.
Contains: Book abstracts and excerpts and citations of book reviews.
Dates covered: 1983-present.

Provides citations and excerpts of reviews of current English-language fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults. An abstract of each book is also provided. To be indexed in Book Review Digest, a book must have been published or distributed in the United States or Canada. A work of nonfiction must have received reviews in two or more of the periodicals on the Book Review Digest selection list. A work of fiction must have received reviews in at least three of the periodicals. Reviews of textbooks, government publications, and technical books in law and the sciences are excluded.
JSTOR
Filter your search to Reviews (and consider selecting History in the Journal Filter to locate reviews by historians) on the Advanced Search page.

JSTOR digitally archives more than 700 scholarly journals. Subjects include African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, business, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, music, philosophy, political science, and more. Also includes ARTSTOR collections from museums and collections of historical primary sources from libraries and cultural heritage organizations.

History

Primary sources in context

Reference Guides

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