History

Secondary sources from university presses, academic associations, and some reputable commercial publishers are considered some of the most reliable types of academic sources. An example might be a book published by Oxford University Press or a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal article from the Journal of Contemporary History.  "Peer review" is when an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas are scrutinized by others who are experts in the same field.

One way to search for peer-reviewed journal articles is to use the OneSearch search bar, located in the center section of the library's homepage. Type in your keywords and then limit your results on the left side of your results page to "peer-reviewed journals."

For some topics, you will find better results by searching some databases individually. Here are a few, but JSTOR is one of the best for history journals! 

Historians also rely on scholarly books to do research. Print books primarily about history are found in the 900 call number range in our library collections.

The 900s are divided as follows: 

900-909  General treatment of history & geography

910-919  Geography & travel

920-929  Biography (biographies for well-known leaders are shelved in a separate biography section at Haselwood Library, or with the subject the person is associated with, e.g., Malcolm X with political science in the 300 call number range.)

930-939  History of ancient world

940-949  History of Europe

950-959  History of Asia

960-969  History of Africa

970-979  History of North America

980-989  History of South America

990-999  History of other areas

You can search the library catalog for both print and electronic books. Electronic books can also be found in some databases, including JSTOR. In addition to using keywords like "history," try place names, people's names, events, movements etc. Although less important in secondary sources, beware of alternate spellings! 

(washington state OR pacific northwest) AND (history OR explorers) 

will retrieve books like, Contested Boundaries : a New Pacific Northwest History 

An individual eBook database that is especially strong for history is: