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This library course guide is intended to help students hone their information literacy skills related to the research and writing of an essay in history at the university level.
Pick a research topic
- Read your assignment instructions carefully
- Pick a research topic that interests you and meets the assignment criteria
- Identify the key concepts of your research topic
- Do some background reading on your topic using Wikipedia
- Watch Using Wikipedia wisely (watch this video for tips)
Reference Sources
- Cambridge World History: The Construction of a Global World, 1400-1800 CE
- Dictionary of contemporary world history
- Fifty key works of history and historiography
- World History: a concise thematic analysis
Your professor will want you to use peer reviewed academic literature from journals or books.
- What does peer review mean? Watch this video: Peer Review in 3 minutes
Academic journals (also known as periodicals or serials), publish the world's most recent peer reviewed research in all disciplines, whereas popular magazines are primarily designed to entertain and inform the general public. Getting to know the difference between these sources is important.
If you are unsure if a journal is scholarly and peer reviewed, check Ulrichsweb. It is the definitive source that lets you know what type of journal you are using by 'content type'.
To find journal articles or books on any topic, you have two options:
1. Use Omni, the library's main search box
- type your topic in the box, or use the Advanced Search
- each search will return many results (much like Google), so you must use the filters to refine your search results
- How to find books
- How to find journal articles
- Need more help? Try Omni Search Tips
2. Search specialized databases for History. The following are recommended:
- Historical Abstracts
- America, History and Life
- JSTOR - digital library of journals, books and primary sources
3. Search the content of individual journal titles by using the Journal Search in Omni:
- Journal of contemporary history
- Journal of global history
- Journal of imperial and Commonwealth history
- Journal of social history
- Journal of world history
- Past & Present
- Studies in the world history of slavery, abolition and emancipation
- Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
- World history review
Step by step Instructions for creating a good search string
1. Identify the main concepts of your research topic and brainstorm possible keywords and begin searching for material with Omni, the library's main search box
2. When searching Omni, use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine concepts and enhance your search. These command words must be in CAPS. See examples:
Use AND to narrow a search: voyages AND "Ibn Battuta"
Use OR to connect two or more synonyms within brackets to expand a search: (Ibn Battuta OR Marco Polo) AND travel
Use NOT to exclude a word: java NOT coffee
3. Enclose phrases with double quotation marks to keep words together. Example: "Medieval adventurer"
4. Truncation (or wildcard symbols) allow you to look for variations of words and broaden your search results. For example, an asterisk * at the end of a root word to search various word endings. Example: disease* OR pandemic*
5. Remember to use the filters on Omni to refine your search and focus on peer reviewed articles or books.
6. Use this Research Worksheet to help create your search strings
Begin with:
- What is a primary source? and how to find them
Primary and Archival Sources on the web
- Digital Public Library of America
- Internet Archive
- Hathi Trust Digital Library
- Library of Congress Digital Collections
- National Archives (UK)
- New York Public Library Digital Collections
- RUSA Primary Sources on the web guide
Writing your essay
- writing a thesis statement (video)
- writing an outline for your essay (web page)
Books on research and writing
- Essaying the past; how to read, write and think about history
- Student writing; give it a generous reading
Citing your sources - why?
- it lets you acknowledge the ideas or words of others if you use them in your work
- it demonstrates that you are using the scholarly record and that you can provide authority for statements you make in your term paper
- it enables readers to find the source information
- it helps you to avoid plagiarism
Consult:
- Citing your sources
- Chicago Citation Style guide on how to cite for Notes and Bibliography
- OWL Purdue Writing Lab - Chicago Style
Your instructor recommends the following link and notes that "footnotes are the standard citation method for history papers": Chicago Manual of Style: Bibliographic format for references
Other Writing Help
Writing Services offers students instruction on developing an argument, structuring ideas, and writing well.
