HIST 1302 (Dr. De La Trinidad): America since 1877

This guide should help you understand the process involved in researching a topic and evaluating sources and should acquanint you with the Cornette Library's books, journals and online sources. The list is not comprehensive so you may need to use this as a starting point and pursue other sources as well. If you have questions, stop by the Reference, Periodicals/Special Collections, or Government Documents Desks for assistance or call the Reference Desk at 651-2215. For additional help, contact Mary Jarvis (x2212) or Steve Ely (x2231) and make an appointment.

Reference Sources


Subject Encyclopedias


Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century
E169.1 .E626 2001 (Reference)
This three-volume work offers principally entries discussing broad concepts, such as abolition, African-Americans, agricultural technology, alcoholic beverages, anti-catholicism, architecture, assassinations, banking and finance, circus, cities and urbanization, disasters, education, and food, just to name very few. Each such topic is full of detail, though, and provides both a good overview and lots of concrete information. Entries are signed and include bibliographies and cross-references. The book also includes maps, illustrations, and a substantial chronology.
Dictionary of American History
E174 .D52 2003 (Reference)
The deceptive name notwithstanding, this is actually more of an encyclopedia. The articles on U.S. history are arranged alphabetically throughout ten volumes and cover matters political, military, economic, and cultural. Entries are signed by the authors and include impressive and helpful bibliographies. Illustrations are not uncommon. Volume nine includes a selection of archival maps and primary source documents, and volume ten includes a learning guide.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History
E 185 E54 2006 Ref
Six volumes with nearly 1,300 signed articles on individuals, organizations, events, and concepts pertaining to the experience of African-Americans in history and culture. Entries include bibliographies, and the set includes a volume featuring primary source documents, statistics, and lists.
The Encyclopedia of the Cold War
D 840 E63 2008 Ref
Five volumes with maps, introductory essays, and approximately 1,300 articles covering the people, events, and concepts from the forty-five year tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Entries are written by identified scholars and include bibliographies. The fourth volume includes a chronology and a glossary, and the fifth volume is full of primary source documents.
New Encyclopedia of the American West
F591 .N46 1998 (Reference)
This weighty one-volume work includes entries on "not only major events in the history of the trans-Mississippi West but the frontier or 'western' stage of all 50 American states." There are wealth of articles on places, people, groups, events, concepts, and geographical features. The book is rich with information and insight. Entries are signed and include bibliographies. Illustrations are common
Encyclopedia of the Great Plains
F591.E4856 2004 (Reference)
This one-volume subject encyclopedia is first organized thematically into twenty-seven topical chapters, which are ordered alphabetically, and only within those chapters are the entries themselves ordered alphabetically. This makes the index essential to the effective use of the book. While the content is not strictly limited to history and does include discussion of many of the topics from a contemporary perspective, there is a strong historical focus. Articles discuss many cities, states, people, groups, trends, events, or concepts within or connected to the American Great Plains region, which is defined in an introductory essay. Articles are signed, with bibliographies and sometimes illustrations.
The Home Front Encyclopedia : United States, Britain, and Canada in World Wars I and II
D 570 H54 2007 Ref
Three volumes with hundreds of biographical and topical articles, including bibliographies and written by named scholars. Each of the first two volumes is about one of the two wars, while the third includes primary source documents, chronologies, glossaries, and bibliographies for each of the wars.

General Guides to Research & Writing


The Creative Guide to Research
ZA 3075 .R69 2000 Ref.
A guide to finding information both in print and available through the World Wide Web.
Student Guide to Research in the Digital Age : How to Locate and Evaluate Information Sources
ZA 3075 .S74 2006 Ref.
Step-by-step introduction to research process, critical evaluation, and specific information sources. Includes consideration of web content from as recently as 2006. A very well-presented blend of detail and introductory overview.
The Rowman & Littlefield Guide to Writing with Sources
PE 1478.D37 2007 Ref.
Discusses clearly and helpfully questions such as when you need to acknowledge a source, when you should paraphrase and when you should quote, how you should paraphrase, how you should quote, how you should punctuate quotations, and how you should select and cite electronic and internet sources.
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian
LB 2369 .T8 2007 Ref.
Gives a lot of clear, organized, and helpful guidance for researching a topic, writing well in an academic style, and formatting your paper. For research advice, see especially chapters 1 through 4. For writing advice, see especially chapters 5 through 12. Chapter 14 also makes points worth considering.

[top]

Books

Cornette Library's Online Catalog
Includes books, government documents, videos, journal titles, etc. available throughout the Library. Suggested searches include:
  • a keyword search for your subject, such as Abolition.
  • the general LC subject heading United States History.
  • the LC subject heading for a specific event such as Mexican War, 1846-1848.

To determine appropriate subject headings for your search, there are a few approaches you can take. If a keyword search returns at least one relevant item, pay careful attention to the section of the record labeled "LC Subject Headings" and click on the links from the meaningful subject headings you find there.

For more detail, refer to the red Library of Congress Subject Headings near the Reference computers in the Library or search the online Library of Congress Authorities Catalog.

WorldCat
  • Online catalog for libraries around the world.
  • Lists Cornette Library books along with many more in other libraries.
  • Search by keyword, author, title, or subject.
  • Request books not in Cornette Library through the pre-filled Interlibrary loan form. Allow at least two weeks for the books to arrive.
*Helpful Searching Tip*
Consider sometimes truncating terms with the applicable symbol. For instance, revolution? in our catalog will also find records with "revolutionary" and "revolutions." In WorldCat, the same search would use revolution*.

[top]

What's a Journal?

Distinction between scholarly journals and magazines is important because:

The following criteria are guidelines. Some publications won't match the criteria exactly. If a publication fits MOST of the criteria, that would probably be the correct categorization.

Check with your instructor if you are not sure of the classification of a particular source.

Journals Magazines
Physical format and appearance
  • Black and white text, simple fonts
  • Few color photographs
  • Non-glossy paper
  • Varied fonts, colored highlights in text
  • Lots of color photographs
  • Glossy paper
Content
  • Generally long articles
  • Letters to editor may be several pages long
  • Few ads, which are aimed at professionals in the field
  • Articles vary in length
  • Letters to editor generally short
  • Lots of colorful ads, aimed at the general public
Typical authors
  • Scholars or experts in the field
  • Authors are always identified
  • Staff or free-lance writers
  • Authors may not be identified
Sourcing
  • Always identify sources in some way
  • May use footnotes, parenthetical references, reference list, or bibliography
  • Often don't identify sources
  • Sources may be discussed as part of narrative structure
Review process
  • Editor will be expert in the field
  • Articles may be checked by other experts before publication ("peer review")
  • Editor has publication background
  • Articles only reviewed in-house
Audience
  • Aimed at scholars in the field
  • Aimed at general public or hobbyists

[top]

Journal & Magazine Articles

Cornette Library provides access to a number of online resources for finding journal articles.

All of our online resources are available from off-campus as well as in the library. Students will use the same login that is used for Buff Advisor, campus email, etc. Faculty and staff will use the network login that is used for webmail and other daily computer usage.

History Resources

America: History and Life
Citation database covering the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Indexes 1,700 journals, to make this the most comprehensive index available for U.S. and Canadian history.
Historical Abstracts
Citation database covering the history of the world since 1450 excluding the United States and Canada. Citations are from over 1800 journals in 50 languages with emphasis on English titles worldwide.

General Resources: Full Text

JSTOR
Complete coverage of full text and images of over 375 journals, except the most current two to five years. Covers many subjects, so it may be helpful to narrow the search by discipline.
Academic Search Complete
Contains abstracts and citations for a broad range of topics, with substantial full-text. Over 3,000 peer-reviewed sources.
Project Muse
Full-text of more than 250 journals, Focused primarily on humanities, with some coverage of performing arts, social sciences, and education as well. 25 of the journals continue coverage from JSTOR.
Digital Dissertations
Indexes over 1.6 million dissertations and masters theses. Some free online full text since 1997.

General Resources: Citations and Abstracts

Web of Science
Despite the name, this citation database has an Arts and Humanities Index and a Social Science Index, in addition to a Science Index. Focuses on high-impact scholarly sources and includes some really neat features, including "Cited by," Linked References, and Related Articles.

Finding Articles from Citations

While most of our online resources include the full-text of the journal articles they index, some only include citations. In such cases, take advantage of the SFX feature to find whether and where we have the article.

SFX logo Logo

Most of our database will include the SFX logo logo on the options for each search result. Clicking this link will open a popup window with several options for retrieving the full-text of the document. One or more of these choices will be shown:

If you would like more information about the SFX logo feature, please see the tutorial Using SFX to Link to Articles

To find a journal article when you only have the citation outside of a database, browse our list of online journals and search Cornette Library's online catalog by journal title to determine if the issue you need is available in the Library's Periodicals collection. Journals are shelved alphabetically by title in the bound, microfilm, microfiche, or current periodicals areas on the Library's second floor. If the Library does not have the journal issue you need, you can request the article through Interlibrary Loan.

[top]

Government Documents

Cornette Library collects United States federal and Texas state documents on many topics.

Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications

[top]

Web Sites

U.S. History portals, documents, and images.

Web Guides

Best of History Web Sites
Created and maintained by two history teachers in Massachusetts, this site has won wide acclaim and numerous awards. Annotations explain persuasively the value of the linked sites, which are organized by topic and by period.
Scout Report Archives
Scholarly. Keyword or advanced search. Results listed by relevance.
INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
Scholarly. Keyword search or browse by general subject area. Can limit to free sites.
ipl2, the merged Internet Public Library (IPL) and Librarians' Internet Index (LII)
General public interest. Keyword search, or browse by general topic and subtopic.

[top]

Citing Your Sources

The Chicago Manual of Style

You have subscription access through our web site to the online version of The Chicago Manual of Style. You can search or browse either the 16th or 15th edition. In the 16th edition, Chapter 14 deals in detail with citing your sources with notes and bibliography.

You may also find very useful their Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide.

Print copies of the Chicago Manual and of A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian, which presents the same citation styles, are available at the Reference Desk and on the Reserve Shelves at the Circulation Desk.

Why must I cite the sources I use for research projects?

[top]

Your Comments

Thank you.

[top]