Content last reviewed:
Pick a Research topic
- Pick a topic that interests you and meets the criteria of the assignment
- Need extra help? Click on Choosing an essay topic
Use reference works to find consistently reliable background information authored by experts
- Cambridge world history of food (print)
- Encyclopedia of food and culture (print)
- Food: critical concepts in the social sciences, 5 vols (print)
- Food History Almanac
- Food in time and place; the American Historical Associaiton companion to food history
- Food Politics
- International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
- Oxford Handbook of Food History
- The Food History Reader: primary sources (print)
Begin with Omni
- Omni searches for everything the library owns, including most of the library's databases, journal articles, book reviews, books/e-books, newspapers, videos, maps, etc.
- type the keywords of your topic in the search box, or search by subject using controlled vocabulary terms such as: food history, cooking history, food habits, food social aspects
- use the filters to refine your search results
- use the Omni Search Tips guide if you need help
Other Databases:
Step by step Searching Instructions for Omni
1. Identify the main concepts of your research topic and brainstorm possible keywords in order to create a list.
2. Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to combine concepts and enhance your search. They must be in capital letters to be recognized by Omni. Using AND narrows a search and using OR to connect synonyms expands a search. Using NOT excludes a specific word. Here are a few sample searches:
- history AND food
- writing AND (food OR cooking)
- foodstuff*
- "daily bread"
- "case studies" AND "food supply"
3. Make sure to enclose your search for phrases with quotation marks.
4. Use the truncation (or stemming, wildcarding) technique to broaden your search. The asterisk * at the end of a root word will search various word endings. Example: environment* = environments, environmental, environmentalist, environmentalism
5. Begin searching for material with the library's main search box, Omni to find journal articles, books and other sources on your topic. Remember to filter each new search by content type, ie: articles, books, newspaper articles, images, videos
Need more help? Consult: Omni Introduction Video
Search tips for finding primary sources:
- Browse our Databases for Archives and Primary Sources
- Use bibliographies and footnotes of secondary sources on your topic, to help identify primary source material
- Useful e-book: History Beyond the Text : A Student's Guide to Approaching Alternative Sources
Historical Newspaper Databases
Primary Sources on the web
- British Library: Sounds - Food
- Gallica
- Google Books
- Internet Archive
- Hathi Trust Digital Library
- Library and Archives Canada
- Library of Congress Food and Foodways Web Archive
- National Archives (UK)
- Project Gutenberg
- WorldCat: search library catalogues of 1000's of libraries around the world
- 19th & 20th Century Cookbooks (Noreen Reale Flacone Library)
- Cookbooks and Home Economics (Internet Archive)
- Feeding America (MSU Libraries)
- Food Advertisements through the Decades (Monmouth University)
- Food and Drink Websites (Connelly Library, Lasalle University)
Writing Guides
- Essaying the past; how to read, write and think about history
- Going to the sources: a guide to historical research and writing
- Notes on writing a history essay (Dept. of History)
- Writing Services @ Carleton
Citation Guides
- Citing your sources - select 'Chicago' style, (also known as Turabian)
- A manual for writers of research papers, theses and dissertations, by Kate L. Turabian (scanning option available)
- Intro to Chicago style footnotes - short video
- OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab
