How to Do Historical Research
Historians often use the word bibliography – it means the pretty much the same thing as references or works cited, except for our purposes in this class it refers to the list of sources you gather before you begin to write.
Purdue OWL: Annotated Bibliography
These days most folks start research by Googling a subject and then writing up a bunch of websites. For this project you need to be a bit more systematic.
1. First, bibliographies are not just for when you have finished the work – you should first prepare a working bibliography, sort of a grocery list of resources you want to find. Preparing a working bibliography helps you know what is available out there and helps you narrow your project to something workable.
2. Make sure of your search terms. You are unlikely to find a book entitled Everything You Need to Know About Subject X. You are more likely to find a single chapter, or even a couple of pages, on your topic. So, it might be useful to glance through the pages of your assigned text at Macrohistory for information on your topic.
3. Don’t neglect footnotes and bibliographies in the books and articles you find. This is the one and only time you may completely copy someone else’s work right off the Internet, or from the back of a book – bibliographies exist in part so other people can use them to pursue further research. Look at tables of contents, footnotes, and of course, other bibliographies to gather a list of sources for your project, and add them to the draft of your preliminary bibliography.
4. Before you start to read your sources, scan the table of contents, the subject headings, the intro and conclusion of the text. Skip the stuff you already know and go right to the chapter or paragraph that contains the nuggets of new information you are looking for.
5. Take good notes! Make sure you write down, or even take a cell phone picture, of the information on the title page of your source. There is nothing more frustrating than writing up your project only to realize you returned the book and you don’t have a record of the author’s full name and the publication date. Don’t forget also to write down the page number of any quotes you want to use, because page numbers are required for quotes in Chicago format.
Where to Find History Resources
Internet Sources
Everybody’s favorite search engine these days is Google. There are some tricks, though:
• Search for your subject plus “primary sources” or “bibliography” (example: Josef Stalin “primary sources”; Mandela bibliography). This will locate some sources that might be available in libraries or in collections that you can’t easily find otherwise.
• Start from a bibliography you already have (for example, at the bottom of the pages in the Macrohistory readings, or in the footnotes in a book on the Cold War that you already have). If you search for titles or authors you already know have written on the subject, you can often find more.
• Look through Google Scholar. This will usually not result in full-text sources, but you might be able to request the articles from the CCCOnline library.
• The Library of Congress has a tremendous collection of primary sources of every description.
• Primary Sources on the Web is a one-stop page for many of the best primary source sites on the Web.
Core Journals to Search
Below are listed core history journals you might be able to find at your home college library or through CCCOnline’s Databases:
• American Historical Review: Covers all areas of history, American and non-American, ancient to modern. Less generally useful for American history than the Journal of American History, but it occasionally has useful articles. It also has a good book-review section.
• Journal of World History: The Journal of the World History Association focuses on historical analysis in a global perspective, especially in topics that cross borders, including migration, infectious diseases, technology transfer, and the spread of ideas.
Databases
If you live in a major metropolitan area, you may be able to access additional databases in your public library. Here are some you might look for:
• National Newspapers Core
• New York Times Historical Backfile on ProQuest
College and University Libraries
In Colorado, you can check out books at a university library with your driver’s license. Here are some resources to look for at a college or university library:
• ABC-CLIO World History: The Modern Era is aimed at high school students, but can provide a starting point for more advanced research in world history topics. Don’t use the articles here as the basis for your arguments, but as a way to find more detailed information. This database does include 7,300 primary sources, which may prove extremely useful in researching your final projects.