How to choose an essay topic
Explore your topic
Introducing Summon - which makes it possible to search across many of the library's collections simultaneously. Including books, ebooks, journal titles, games, music, videos, government information, maps, and more.
However, Summon doesn't search everything that the library owns or subscribes to so you will still need to search other resources to find everything that you need. Summon also doesn't let you do sophisticated searches that you may be used to doing in specific databases or the library catalogue.
When to use Summon
- When starting research on a topic
- If you are not sure which databases to use
For assistance using Summon please contact the Research Help Desk.
Reference Materials:
Use reference materials to get started on your research. These can be found in the Reference area of the library, main floor behind the Research Help Desk.
Key Databases:
- America History and Life (covers Canada and the US)
- CPI.Q
- Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database (previously CBCA Complete)
Additional Databases:
- Bibliography of Native North Americans
- Google Scholar
- Historical Abstracts (covers everything but Canada and US)
- Humanities Index (previously British Humanities Index)
- JSTOR
- Libris Canadiana
- Periodicals Archive Online
Dissertations
Finding primary sources in the library collection
Original documents can be found by consulting the Archives and Research Collections (ARC) website.
Reproductions can be found by checking the library catalogue.
Use specific words to locate primary sources in the Library catalogue, such as: correspondence, sources, diaries, letters, personal naratives. KEYWORD search examples:
- [PERSON’S NAME] and s:correspondence
- [PERSON’S NAME] and s:diaries
- [PERSON’S NAME] and s:letters
- [KEYWORD] and s:sources
Key Sources of Primary Sources for Canadian History
- Canada in the Making
- Canada's Digital Collection (Library and Archives Canada)
- Canadian Historical Association (CHA) Booklets
- CBC Digital Archives
- CIHM (Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions)
Huge microfiche reproductions collection from the time of the first European settlers to the 1920s. Items can be searched in the Library Catalogue by entering relevant KEYWORDS and adding and CIHM to the search.
- Early Canadiana Online (pre-1920)
- Empire Club of Canada (1903-present)
- Empire Online
- Evidence Web
- Hubert Wenger Eskimo Database
- National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
- Peels Prairie Provinces
- Primary Documents.ca
- Toronto's Public Library-Virtual Exhibits
Newspapers
Canadian
- The British Colonist
- The Charlottetown Guardian (1890-1957)http://www.islandnewspapers.ca/
- Globe and Mail: Canada's Heritage from 1844
- Google Newspaper Archive
- Our Future, Our Past
Early Alberta Newspapers.
- Quesnel Cariboo Observer (1908-2015)
- Toronto Star: Pages of the Past (1894-2012)
British
- Times Digital Archive (1785-1985)
- The Guardian (1821-2003)
- The Observer (1791-2003)
Finding primary sources on the Internet
Government Information
The Government Documents collection contains over 1.2 million items and is an especially strong repository of Canadian primary source material.
You will find the most important government documents for historical research, such as the Debates of the House of Commons of Canada, Royal Commissions, and the Census of Canada. You will also find historical sheet maps and atlases from around the world, and a full range of statistical publications to help provide historical context.
See also: Government Information Subject Guide
Media
Images
- Ad*Access (Duke University)
Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955.
- Art and War: Australia, Britain and Canada in the Second World War (Canadian War Museum)
- Canada and the First World War (Canadian War Museum)
- Canada at War Photographs
- Canadian Letters and Images Project
- Canadian War Poster Collection (McGill)
- Canadian Wartime Propaganda (Canadian War Museum)
- CN Images of Canada Gallery: A Canadian History (Canada Science and Technology Museum)
- Faces of War
- Images Canada: Picturing Canadian Culture
- Japanese-Canadian Photograph Collection (University of British Columbia)
- Korean War Photo Gallery
- Library and Archives Canada Photostream (Flickr)
- National Gallery of Canada
- Northwest Rebellion Photograph Galley (University of Manitoba)
- Portrait Gallery of Canada
- Postcard Views of Indigenous People (University of Saskachewan)
- Saskachewan in Two World Wars: An Exhibition
- Sporting Lives: Images of Canadian Athletes
- Through a Lens: Dieppe in Photograph and Film
Videos:
Collection of streaming educational videos that cover a wide spectrum of disciplines. Contains both clips and full-length videos.
For video material at the Carleton Univeristy library, do a KEYWORD search in the library catalogue and limit "Material Type" to FILM/VIDEO. If you cannot find what you need search the following database:
If you wish to borrow a video listed in Watmedia please fill out our Interfilm Video Request form - do not submit requests directly to Watmedia.
Other Places to look for Videos
- Images of a Forgotten War: Films of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War
- On All Fronts: World War II and the NFB
- NFB.ca
- TVO Public Archives
Other Media
- First World War Audio Archive (Veterans Affairs Canada)
- Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History (Online game)
- Heroes Remember: Canadian Chinese Veterans
Oral histories
This Memory Project website provides Second World War veterans with the opportunity to share their memories through oral interviews and digitized artefacts and memorabilia.
General Gateways
- Canada in the Making
- Canada's Digital Collections/Les collections numérisées du Canada
- Canadian Encyclopedia
- Canadians and their Pasts
- Champlain Society Digital Collection (University of Toronto)
- Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History (Candian Heritage)
- Library and Archives Canada
- Online Resources for Canadian Heritage
- Our Roots
- WWW Virtual Library History Central Catalogue: Canadian History (European University Institute)
Associations
- Association for Canadian Studies
- Canadian Committee on Labour History
- Canadian Historical Association
- Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
- Canadian Museums Association
- History Graduate Student Association (Carleton University)
- HUGS History Undergraduage Society (Carleton University)
- Ontario Genealogy Society (Ottawa Branch)
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 War Museum
- Virtual Museum of Canada
- Heritage Passages; Bytown and the Rideau Canal
- Virtual Museum of New France
Special Topics
Crime and Law
- About Canada's System of Justice (Department of Justice)
- Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History
- Law Society of Upper Canada
- Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
First Nations
- Aboriginal Heritage (Library and Archives Canada)
- Aboriginals: Treaties & Relations (Canada in the Making)
- Academic Info: Canadian First Nations
- Canadian Politics on the Web: Aboriginal Issues
- First Peoples of Canada (Museum of Civilization)
- Treaties, Surrenders and Agreements (Library and Archives Canada)
- Treaty Making in Canada
Immigration
- Canadian Council for Refugees / Conseil canadien pour les refugies
- Early Chinese Canadians 1858-1947 (Library and Archives Canada)
- Home Children Records (Library and Archives Canada)
- Immigrant Voices
- Marj's Place (Sponsored by the University of Waterloo)
- Pier 21: Gateway to Canada
- Pioneers and Immigrants (Canada in the Making)
- The Ships List
Labour History
- Canadian Committee on Labour History - CCLH
- Canadian Labour History, 1850-1999 (Canadian Museum of Civilization)
- Canadian Labour History Bibliography (Memorial University Libraries)
- Directory of Labour Organizations in Canada
- On the Job (Library and Archives Canada)
Photographic exhibition.
- Working Histories (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada)
- WWW Virtual Library Labour History of Canada
Local History and Genealogy (see also Immigration)
- Canada GenWeb
- Canadian Genealogy & History
- Canadian Military Heritage Project (Department of National Defence)
- Genealogy and Family History (Library and Archives Canada)
- Ontario GenWeb
- Our Roots/Nos Racines: The Canadian Digital Local Histories Site
Military Studies
- Canada and the First World War (Library and Archives Canada)
- Canada at War
- Canada Remembers (Veterans Affairs Canada)
- Canadian Military History Gateway (Department of National Defence)
- Canadian War Museum
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC)
- Department of National Defence and Canadian Forces Website
- Directorate of History and Heritage (Department of National Defence)
- From Colony to Country: A Reader's Guide to Canadian Military History (Library and Archives Canada)
- Land Forces of Britain, the Empire and Commonwealth
- Legion Magazine
- Military and Peacekeeping (Library and Archives Canada)
Politics and Government
- Canadian Confederation (Library and Archives Canada)
- Canadian Constitutional Documents: A Legal History
- Constitutional History (Canada in the Making)
- Canadian Politics on the Web
- Constitutional Acts: 1867-1982 (Department of Justice)
- The Department in History (Global Affairs Canada)
- First Among Equals: The Prime Minister in Canadian Life and Politics (Library and Archives Canada)
Women's History
- The Call to Duty: Canada's Nursing Sisters (Library and Archives Canada)
- Canadian Politics on the Web: Women in Politics
- Carleton University Women's Studies Subject Guide
- Celebrating Women's Achievements (Library and Archives Canada)
- Heroines.ca: A Guide to Women in Canadian History
- Herstory: Une exposition/An Exhibition (University of Saskatchewan)
- Status of Women Canada
- Timeline of Canadian Women's History
- ViVa: A Bibliography of Women's History in Historical and Women's Studies Journals
The ViVa database provides citations to over 8,000 articles on the subject of women's and gender history published between 1975 and 2004 in historical and women's studies journals.
Just need a few resources to get you started? Try the Canadian History Quick Guide.
