Content last reviewed:
Begin with Reference Resources to find background information on your topic:
- Canadian Encyclopedia
- Canadiana Online (includes all CIHM historical microfiche content)
- Companion to the History of Science
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences
- Oxford Companion to the history of modern science
- Routledge Companion to Literature and Science
To find books or journal articles, you have two options:
1. Use Omni, the library's main search box
- type in the keywords of your topic
- this discovery tool searches most of the library's databases, simultaneously, for all types of material, ie: journal articles, book reviews, books/e-books, newspapers, magazines,videos, reports, etc.
- each search can return many results (much like Google), so you must use the filters to refine your search results
- use the Advanced Search and narrow by Subject terms (controlled vocabulary)
- remember to login first if you are searching from 'off campus'
- Need help? Omni Search Tips
2. Browse specialized databases for:
- History
- Canadian Studies
- these databases are focused on various areas of historical research and contain citations or full text links to journal articles, books, conference proceedings, reports, and dissertations
- databases for Canadian Studies have significant Canadian content
- you will find more precise articles with fewer results to browse
Recommended databases for journal articles:
- America, History and Life
- Canadian Business and Current Affairs
- CPI.Q - Canadian Periodical Index (1988-)
- Historical Abstracts
- JSTOR - digital library archive of academic journals, books and primary sources
- Project MUSE
Recommended Journals:
- To search for articles within each of these journals in Omni, click on Journal Searching for instructions.
- Acadiensis
- Annals of Science
- Canadian Historical Review
- Canadian Journal of medical laboratory science
- Canadian Journal of Political Science
- Environmental History
- History of Science
- History of the Human Sciences
- Journal of the Canadian Historical Association
- Journal of Canadian Studies
- Journal of modern history
- Journal of the History of Neuroscience
- Rethinking History
- Victorian Periodicals Review
To find newspaper articles, use the following sources:
- Canadian Newsstream - indexes 280 Canadian news sources from across Canada, including the Globe and Mail
- Globe and Mail: 1844 - 2014
- Toronto Star: Pages of the Past: 1894 - 2015
- Canadian Historical Newspaper Archives - browse this list to find historical newspapers in electronic format or microform.
- The Ottawa Journal is only available from Newspapers.com
Begin with:
Searching for primary sources:
Search your topic (or historical person of interest) using Omni, the library's main search box to find primary sources (or reproductions) in our collection. Keyword searches that include the following terms may help dentify primary materials: Diar* (for diary or diaries), Correspondence, Letters, Memoir, Personal narrative, Recollections, Reminiscences, Journal, Sources
Other search tips
- Use bibliographies and footnotes of secondary sources on your topic to help identify primary source material.
- Useful e-books:
Historical Newspaper Databases
Primary Sources on the web
- Archives and Primary Sources Databases
- Archives of Ontario
- Digital Public Library of America
- Internet Archive
- Hathi Trust Digital Library
- Library and Archives Canada
- Library of Congress Digital Collections
- National Archives (UK)
Other libraries with significant primary source collections:
- Center for Research Libraries (CRL) - Carleton University Library is a member of the CRL consortium. It regularly acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives, and other traditional and digital resources for research and teaching and makes them available to member institutions.
Citation
Historians most often use Chicago Citation Style:
Consult the main Citing your sources web page or the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) for specific help with citations.
Referencing your sources is an important part of academic writing. Why?
- it lets you acknowledge the ideas or words of others if you use them in your work
- it helps you to avoid plagiarism
- 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
Writing:
- Essaying the past; how to read, write and think about history
- Student writing; give it a generous reading
- Writing Services - offers students help with learning the mechanics of academic writing
