U.S. History Research Guide

	United States History Research Guide
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Getting Started: Steps of the Research Process

Use United States History: Steps of the Research Process to understand the total process of writing a research paper from beginning to completion. It provides assistance with:

#1--Beginning the research process
#2--Developing a topic
#3--Locating background information, identifying search terms, & testing your topic
#4--Formulating a thesis statement, and
#5--Completing the research process by finding books, articles, and other resources and
#6--Citing your sources

Reference Sources

The United States History: Reference Bibliography lists a selection of reference sources relating to U.S. History in all areas of the Boyden Library Reference Collection. Reference sources are useful for:

Choosing a topic
Understanding terminology
Locating background information
Identifying good search terms
Identifying additional resources

Finding Books (and more) in the Boyden Library Catalog
and other library catalogs

Generally, resources in U.S. History are located in the 973 area of the circulating collection. However, sources could also be located in almost any area of the collection if the primary subject of the source is not history. For instance, resources on American artists would be found in the 700's (arts), resources on religion in America would be located in the 200's (religion), etc.

Search the catalog by subject to identify resources on a specific topic.

Historical resources for U.S. History often contain the subject heading United States--History followed by a subdivision for either the century or a period of time
Other subject headings may contain subdivisions for location plus subdivisions for century or time period such as: Religion--United States--20th Century or Religion--United States--1901-1945
Terms found in subject headings are always good search terms--collect them
Use a keyword search to search multiple concept using Boolean logic
For example: United States and religion
"And" narrows the search to require that both terms are present in the results
The following terms identify primary sources in the subdivisions after a subject heading: biography (if an autobiography), cases, correspondence, description and travel, diaries, fiction, interview, personal narrative, pictorial works, poetry, short stories, sources, etc.
Use these terms in keyword searches to locate primary documents

Any library catalog can be a resource for locating materials which could be obtained through Interlibrary Loan. Consider searching other library catalogs to identify potentially helpful materials, including primary sources, that are unavailable in the Boyden Library.

Finding Articles in History Research Databases
(go to DA Orgs/Library for off-campus access)

Start with history databases to locate reference articles, periodical articles, primary sources, biographical information, and audio-visual materials in U.S. History
Check biographical databases for information on important people in the history of the country
General databases may also include secondary sources on U.S. History topics--secondary sources can lead to primary sources--check bibliographies and reference lists for primary sources of interest
Databases in other subjects (art, news, etc.) may also include helpful articles
Use the electronic Periodicals List if you have a citation for an article and need to know whether this library owns the article in any format (paper, electronic, microfilm, etc.)
History Databases at the Boyden Library is a printable handout that describes all of the databases and their searching characteristics

Internet Resources for U.S. History
Websites should always be evaluated for authorship, accuracy, and currency

Primary and Secondary Sources: What Are They?, How to Find Them, How to Use Them

Identifying Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
What are Primary Sources? (Library of Congress)
Primary Resources for Historical Research
Using Primary Sources on the Web
Primary Source Research Guide (from the Five Colleges: UMass, Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith)
Library Research: Finding Primary Sources (UC Berkeley)
Using Manuscripts & Archives (Yale)
Primary Documents Analysis Worksheets (from our National Archives)
Reading, Writing, and Researching for History (Bowdoin)
Making Sense of Evidence
DoHistory (A site that shows you how to piece together the past from the fragments that have survived)
Why Study History? (American Historical Association)

United States History: Internet Resources is a collection of quality sites for the following:

U.S. History gateways
Historical statistics
Historical maps
Primary sources on the Internet
Digital collections
Newspapers
Full text history journals
and the history of Deerfield

United States History Research Guide

United States History
Research Guide