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History170/172

Starting Your Research

Library Databases

  • Article databases: Use when you want to find primary or secondary sources.
  • eBook databases: Use when you want to find a lot of information about a broad topic.
  • Newspaper databases: Use historical newspaper articles as primary sources.

Search Strategies

These search strategies can help you in any database you use. Using the right keywords can affect how relevant your results are.

  1. Search with specific keywords (not questions or long phrases).
  2. Search 2-3 keywords at a time. Each keyword you add will reduce your results.
  3. Use quotation marks around words you want to search as a complete phrase ("Declaration of Independence").
  4. Limiters: always use the Full Text limiter. 

Strive for a list of results that is manageable so you can look through them all. If you have an overwhelming number of results, try revising your search by changing or adding keywords or applying different limiters. Revising your search might also mean trying a different database.

Databases for History Research