History

Featured Resource
The History Cooperative http://www.historycooperative.org/
The History Cooperative is a key resource scholars and students of history. It offers many resources including full text to important journals in the field, web links for historians and more. Conference proceedings are one of the newest additions.

For additional assistance, please contact Jane Nichols at ph: 737-7269 or jane.nichols@oregonstate.edu.

 
Quicklinks
 Off-Campus Access | Academic Search Premier | America: History and Life |Historical Abstracts |JSTOR| Project Muse | Interlibrary Loan Forms


  
Table of Contents
Finding Books in Online Catalogs

Research Papers: Guides for Research and Writing
Background Information: Specialized Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Dates and Events: Chronologies and Calendars
Journals and Journal Articles: Searching Print and Electronic Indexes
Primary Sources: Identifying and Locating Them
Book Reviews: Searching Print and Electronic Indexes
Newspapers: Searching OSU's Collection and Full-Text Electronic Indexes
Biographical Information: Identifying Print and Online Resources
Statistical Information: From the U.S. Government and Elsewhere
Government Information and Legal Sources
Internet Resources: Web Sites Dedicated to All Aspects of History

 

Finding Books in Online Catalogs

Catalogs: OSU Libraries online catalog have all formats of materials owned by OSU libraries cataloged in this database, including books, government documents, videos, and journals to which the library subscribes. (Note that online catalogs do NOT grant access to the full-text of articles within journals. You can search OSU Libraries online catalog from any computer with Internet access at: http://oasis.oregonstate.edu.

Summit (Orbis): Connected to OSU Libraries online catalog is Summit, the combined catalog of many academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. Materials in Summit are available to OSU students, faculty, and staff within 3 working days of an order date, provided they aren't checked out. You can extend your search from OSU Libraries online catalog to Summit with the click of the "repeat search in summit" button, or connect directly at: http://orbis.uoregon.edu

Searching: Online catalogs are generally searched by author, title, subject, keyword, or call number. Subject searching is most effective when Library of Congress Subject Headings are used. The complete list of subject headings is located in the library's reference area; ask if you need help. Notice below that each record in the online catalog will indicate the subject headings assigned to that item; these headings usually are hotlinked to other materials on similar topics. Some examples of LC subject headings for history are:

American loyalists Industrial revolution Reconstruction
Renaissance Mongols--history Ojibwa indians

Locating by call number: Like most academic libraries, OSU uses the Library of Congress classification system to organize and arrange materials in the library. Most history materials fall into the "D", "E", and "F" call number ranges and are located on the 6th floor of The Valley Library. More specific groupings of materials include:

DA - Great BritainDT - Africa
DF - GreeceE - America/United States
DK - Soviet UnionF 1-975 - U.S. local history
DS - AsiaF 1421-1577 - Central America

Return to Table of Contents

Research Papers: Guides for Research and Writing

Research:

Writing:

Background Information: Specialized Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Encyclopedias: Subject encyclopedias are organized alphabetically and contain authoritative information on various topics. Overviews of current research and short bibliographies on specific topics also are included. Use them to discover, develop, and narrow topics for research papers.

Dictionaries: Specialized dictionaries define terms, concepts, and jargon used in a particular field or subject, sometimes in extended entries.

Dates and Events: Chronologies and Calendars

Journals: Searching for Articles in Print and Electronic Indexes

Professional journals are an important component of the literature of history. Usually, these periodicals contain articles that present detailed accounts of original research, supported with logical analysis and thorough documentation (charts, graphs, footnotes, bibliographies, etc.). They are essential secondary sources for in-depth research on a particular topic. Two significant indexes that serve students of history are: America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts.

Current Articles

Academic Search Premier
General index that provides full text coverage of over 1,250 academic, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals.

America: History and Life
Covers scholarly literature relating to North American history from prehistoric times to the present day. Covers over 2000 journals in 40 languages.

Historical Abstracts
Provides access to scholarly publications on world history (outside of the U.S. and Canada) from 1450 to the present day. Covers 2100 journals in 50 languages.

JSTOR
This is primarily an archival collection of journal articles that includes over 140 titles in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Some journals include articles up to 2003. This includes full-text coverage.

Project Muse
Offers nearly 250 quality journal titles from 40 scholarly publishers. Project MUSE includes full-text journals covering many fields such as history, cultural studies, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others.

Older Articles

C.R.I.S.: The Combined Retrospective Index Set to Journals in History, 1838-1974
Complete coverage of 243 English-language journals from their first issue to 1974. All periods of history are covered.

JSTOR
This is primarily an archival collection of journal articles that includes over 140 titles in the humanities, social sciences and sciences. Some journals include articles back to the 1800's.

Nineteenth Century Reader's Guide
Covers articles published during the 1890s in over 50 popular and/or reputable journals.

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature A13 .P6 1893 and 1902.
Indexes articles in general interest periodicals published between 1802 and 1902.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
Access to articles published in popular magazines from 1900 on.

Social Sciences and Humanities Index (1907-1974)
Broad coverage of scholarly publications in many fields. Split into two separate indexes (Social Sciences Index and Humanities Index) in 1974.

Electronic journals

OSU Libraries online journals related to history

These must be searched one journal title at a time, so this is not a very efficient way to search.

Unless you are interested in searching one specific electronic journal, it is recommended that you use a periodical index/database to do your searching. One advantage of electronic journals is that they are full-text online. This list is subject to change, and years of coverage will vary by journal.

Primary Sources: Identifying and Locating Them

Primary sources are the original, first-hand accounts of a subject or event. They include letters, diaries, manuscripts, autobiographies, interviews, opinions, surveys, investigations, court testimony and depositions, and government documents. You will find primary source material in books, bibliographies, newspapers, and periodicals. For a detailed explanation on how to locate and use primary sources, see Library Research Using Primary Sources, from UC-Berkeley, or Primary Sources Research, from Yale University.

Book Reviews: Searching Print and Electronic Indexes

Newspapers: Print, Film, and Digital.

Current News

  • Newspapers Link to the Valley Library's newspaper homepage.
  • LexisNexis Academic (Formerly Academic Universe) Full-text access to English and foreign-language papers.

Old News (on microfilm)

Biographical Information: Print and Online Resources

Statistical Information: From the U.S. Government and Elsewhere

From The Valley Library "Government Information" page, you can link to:

Government Information and Legal Resources

Link to The Valley Library's Government Information page.

Internet Resources

Return to Table of Contents

Return to the Alphabetical or Subject index of the Subject Research Guides.