Search Omni, the library's main search box to find books, journal articles, newspaper articles, videos, and many other types of published literature. Omni searches almost all of our collections and databases, simultaneously. If you know the title of a specific book, journal article, or journal, just type in the full title in the search box. See also our Omni Help guide.

If you are keyword searching using Omni, always remember to use caps for Boolean operators.

• Combine keywords with AND, ex: self AND society
• Combine synonyms with OR, (child* OR youth OR  teenage) AND history
• Enclose phrases in quotation marks, "Vietnamese conflict"
• Use truncation * (asterisk) at the end of a root word to find all forms of the word, ie: mineral* (will retrieve minerals, mineralogy, mineralogical, etc.)
• When you get your results, use the filters on the left side of the screen to Refine your search. 
• More Omni Help

Search subject-specific databases in History to find journal articles and primary source content. They offer many advanced search features, only contain scholarly literature and search results are more precise. Consult the following:

• Databases by Subject for History
• Databases by Type
• History Detailed Guide

Important note: If the library does not have what you need, you can order books and journal articles from other libraries through RACER but you need to register before you can start using it.

Google Scholar

Most researchers regularly search Google Scholar because it is convenient, but please remember to connect to it via the Carleton Library to seamlessly connect to the full text of journal articles that are part of the library's collection.

Cited Reference Searching 

Why is this important? It is most often used for finding articles that cite a particular work. Many databases provide citation counts for individual articles.

• Keeping track of who has cited a given work can help you gauge the impact that article has in the discipline
• To find citation counts for history, use Historical Abstracts or America, History and Life. You can also search Web of Science, or Scopus
• If the article has been cited, the database will provide a link to the citing articles
• For more info, consult the Cited Reference Searching Help Guide

Search Alerts

Why use them? Search alerts are a current awareness service that helps researchers stay current with what is being published in their field, via email.

• Search Alerts Help Guide

Databases

Sage Research Methods is designed to support researchers with writing a research question, choosing a method, gathering and analyzing data, to and writing up & publishing the findings.

• Tip: Browse by discipline, look for 'History' to find a number of handbooks and case studies.

Useful Books

• A practical guide to studying history: skills and approaches
• Research methods for history
• The information-literate historian : a guide to research for history students
• The Routledge companion to historical studies

Nvivo Software

Nvivo is qualitative data analysis software intended to help researchers organize and analyze data, identify trends, and cross examine information in a variety of ways.  Consult the NVIVO service web page for more information about this tool and training workshops.