Today's Hours:
Dr. Al-Tikriti has provided a list of requirements for the research paper. A bibliography and outline are due on November 15th, and the final paper is due on December 6th.
This page is a guide to researching World War II. The page is divided into four sections:
I recommend bookmarking this page.
Read overviews to quickly grasp the basics of your topic, and to find clues to follow up on (such as citations to other sources). Don't cite overviews.
Here are some websites that provide overviews:
In Simpson Library, find overviews in the Reference section on the first floor. Books about World War II are shelved between D 731 and D 838.
I particularly recommend this five-volume set:
The Encyclopedia of World War IISecondary sources are works of analysis, such as books or journal articles. Anyone can write an analysis of historical events; for this class, it's best to cite secondary sources written by expert historians.
Some of our books are e-books and some are print books. To browse the print books about World War II, look on the third floor between the call numbers D 731 and D 838.
Optionally, you can also find journal articles by searching specific library databases such as these:
Primary sources are historical documents from the time that you're studying. They provide evidence to establish what is true or false.
The most important method for discovering primary sources is to read secondary sources and see which primary sources they cite. After that, here are four more methods for finding primary sources:
1. In library books, using subject headings:
2. In library databases:
3. In online archives:
Dr. Al-Tikriti listed several more online archives on the first page of the course syllabus.
4. Using Google, with search terms such as these:
For more suggestions, see the Primary Sources page of the History & American Studies research guide.
In class today, please find three sources for your topic, either primary or secondary, that you have not seen before today. You're not committing to using these three sources in your bibliography or your final paper -- you're just finding possibilities today.
When you find a good source, save it so you can get back to it later. This could mean saving a PDF to your computer, or bookmarking a URL, or writing down a title, or checking out a physical book.
Raise your hand to...
Feel free to leave this room to browse the shelves or to check out books, but remember to come back to show me what you found.
After you've shown me three sources, you can leave class, or stay and keep finding things (your choice).
