Detail of "Officers of the 90th [i.e., 38th] Regiment (Captain Hume and Captain Snodgrass)," a Crimean War photo by Roger Fenton, from the Library of Congress

This is a guide to researching the geopolitical history of the long 19th century, primarily in Europe, for HIST 300D5 From Empires to Nation States at the University of Mary Washington. Use the menu to navigate from page to page.

I recommend bookmarking this page.

In class today, please find five sources for your topic, either primary or secondary, that you have not seen before today. Then, show me those five sources.

• You're not committing to using these five sources in your bibliography or your final paper -- you're just finding possibilities today.
• I recommend that you start with an overview of your topic, or of the context surrounding your topic. Read through the overview, and write down words you could use as search terms. You might also want to write down the titles of sources cited in the overview.

When you find a good source, save it so you can get back to it later. Here are some ways to save sources:

• Download a PDF to your computer.
• Bookmark a URL.
• Write down a title.
• Check out a physical book.

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 five sources, you can leave class early, or you can stay and continue to find more sources for the entire period (your choice).