Welcome
Your assignments at university are an invitation to join a scholarly conversation by exploring topics in depth, formulating a unique research question, examining the research of others along with primary sources, building an argument, and drawing your own conclusions. A good research topic is one that sparks your interest and allows you to ask new questions in order to find meaningful answers.
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 and do a search on the library's main search box, Omni
If you need extra help:
- click on Choosing an essay topic
- do some background reading on your topic using Wikipedia - watch the Using Wikipedia wisely (video)
- read Developing strong research questions
Use guides, dictionaries, and encyclopedias to find authoritative definitions, and useful bibliographies.
- Canadian Encyclopedia
- Canadiana (contains all Early Canadiana online content)
- Encyclopedia of Canada's peoples (print only)
- Historical dictionary of Canada (print only)
- Indigenous writes : a guide to First Nations, Métis, & Inuit issues in Canada
- Oxford Companion to Canadian History
- Place names of Canada
Search Omni, the library's main search box to easily find peer-reviewed journal articles on any topic. Remember to refine your search by selecting the following options: Peer-Reviewed Journals, Articles and Subject (optional) to obtain high quality, academic literature.
You can also search databases by subject to find journal articles. They offer many advanced search features and search results tend to be more precise.
Key Databases:
- America History and Life (covers Canada and the US)
- CPI.Q
- Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database (previously CBCA Complete)
- Érudit (covers mainly French language articles but some in English)
Additional Databases:
- Bibliography of Native North Americans
- Google Scholar
- Historical Abstracts (covers everything but Canada and US)
- Hubert Wenger Eskimo Database
- JSTOR
- Libris Canadiana
- National Film Board of Canada
- Peel's Prairie Provinces
- Periodicals Archive Online
- Worldcat (union catalogue of libraries worldwide)
Dissertations
Begin with:
To find Primary sources in Omni:
- Search your topic (or historical person of interest) using the library's main search box Omni
- A keyword search that includes one of the following terms will identify primary materials in most cases:
- Diar* (for diary or diaries)
- Correspondence
- Letters
- Memoir
- Personal narrative
- Recollections
- Reminiscences
- Journal
- Sources
Other search tips:
- Check the bibliographies and footnotes of secondary sources on your topic to help identify primary source material.
- Useful book: History Beyond the Text : A Student's Guide to Approaching Alternative Sources
- Some original documents can also be found by searching our archival collections, or by contacting the Archives and Special Collections (ASC) staff for help. The library has many microform collections of primary sources as well. Please ask for assistance at the Research Help Desk.
Library and Archives Canada - Key historical sources by selected topic:
- Canada and the First World War
- Canada in the Making
- Canadian Confederation
- Canadian Historical Booklets
- Early Chinese Canadians, 1858-1947
- Exploration and Settlement
- First Among Equals - the Canadian Prime Minister in Canadian Life and Politics
- Genealogy and Family History
- Home Children Records, 1869-1932
- Indian Affairs Annual Reports, 1864-1990
- Indigenous Heritage
- Military and Peacekeeping
- The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters
CIHM (Canadian Institute for Historical Micro-reproductions)
Historical microfiche reproductions from the time of the first European settlers to the 1920s can be searched by entering relevant keywords and adding and CIHM to the search in the library's main search box, Omni.
Digital Archives
- Archives Canada
- Canada in the Making - Internet Archive
- Canadian Letters and Images Project
- Canadiana
- Empire Club of Canada
- Empire Online
- HathiTrust Digital Library
- Historical Atlas of Canada - Online learning project
- Internet Archive
- Libraries and Cultrual Resources Digital Collections - University of Calgary
- Primary Documents.ca
Historical Newspapers
Canadian
- The British Colonist
- Canada Gazette
- Globe and Mail: Canada's Heritage from 1844
- Google Newspaper Archive
- Library and Archives Canada - Collections of Canadian Newspapers
- Toronto Star: Pages of the Past (1894-2012)
British
- Times Digital Archive (1785-1985)
- The Guardian (1821-2003)
- The Observer (1791-2003)
Government Information
- About Canada's System of Justice
- Canada Remembers - Veteran's Affairs Canada
- Canadian Council for Refugees 100 years of immigration to Canada 1900-1999
- National Defence and the Canadian Forces
- Labour Organizations in Canada - Employment and Social Development Canada
- History of Global Affairs Canada
- Status of Women Canada
- Treaties and Agreements - Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada
Canadian Parliamentary Publications (Pre Confederation)
Other Media (images & videos)
- Art and War: Australia, Britain and Canada in the Second World War (Canadian War Museum)
- Canada and the First World War (Canadian War Museum)
- Canadian Letters and Images Project
- Canadian War Poster Collection (McGill)
- Canadian Wartime Propaganda (Canadian War Museum)
- CBC Digital Archives
- CN Images of Canada Gallery: A Canadian History (Canada Science and Technology Museum)
- Japanese-Canadian Photograph Collection (University of British Columbia)
- Korean War Photo Gallery
- National Gallery of Canada
- Northwest Rebellion Photograph Galley (University of Manitoba)
- Sporting Lives: Images of Canadian Athletes
Associations
- Association for Canadian Studies
- Canadian Committee on Labour History
- Canadian Historical Association
- Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
- Canadian Museums Association
Museums
- Artefacts Canada
- Bytown Museum
- Canada Agriculture and Food Museum
- Canada Aviation and Space Museum
- Canadian Museum for Human Rights
- Canadian Museum of History
- Canadian Railway Museum
- Canadian War Museum
- Virtual Museum of Canada
- Heritage Passages; Bytown and the Rideau Canal
- Virtual Museum of New France
Other
- Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History
- Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
- Canadian Council for Refugees / Conseil canadien pour les refugies
- Immigrant Voices
- Pier 21: Gateway to Canada
- The Ships List
- Canadian Committee on Labour History - CCLH
- Canadian Labour History Bibliography (Memorial University Libraries)
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
- Heroines.ca: A Guide to Women in Canadian History
- Status of Women Canada
- Timeline of Canadian Women's History
Writing Guides
- The information-literate historian: a guide to research for history students
- Notes on writing a History Essay (History Department guidelines)
- A short guide to writing about history
- Writing about Canada: a handbook for modern Canadian History
- Writing History: a guide for Canadian students
- Writing the research paper (video)
Citing your sources
Referencing your sources in 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 essay
- it enables readers to find the source information
For help with citing, consult:
