Research Sources in History

 
 


Blue Ridge Community College
Houff Library

 
 
Online History Reference Sources - the first place to begin your research
 
This Day in History - info on what happened on any day in history
Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students -
This extensive guide to writing history papers is divided into several categories: reading, writing, researching, and evaluating"; some topics about thesis writing are covered in depth in several different sections.
Repository of Primary Sources

World
African Mythology, A Dictionary
Archaeology, The Oxford Companion to
Asian Mythology, A Dictionary of
British History, A Dictionary of
British History, The Oxford Companion to
Canadian History, The Oxford Companion to
Celtic Mythology, A Dictionary of
Classical Civilization, The Oxford Companion to
Classical World, Who s Who in the
Contemporory World History, A Dictionary of
Dynasties of the World
Kings and Queens of Britain, The
Local and Family History, The Oxford Dictionary of
Military History, The Oxford Companion to
Twentieth Century, Who s Who in the
World History, A Dictionary of
Perseus Project 
Bulfinch's Mythology 
Life in Ancient Egypt
Encyclopedia of World History
n the First Person - search across all letters, diaries, oral histories, memoirs, and autobiographies within scholarly materials on the web
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Internet Medieval Sourcebook
WWW Virtual Index to Medieval Europe
The Labyrinth
Historical Maps

Roman Emperors
World Maps
World Mythology, A Dictionary of

World War II, The Oxford Companion to

United States
About.com Guide
American Civil War Homepage
American Cultural History:  The Twentieth Century
American Military History, The Oxford Companion to
Australian History, The Oxford Companion to
Biography.com
Gale Encyclopedia of U. S. Economic History
The History Net / The National Historical Society.
Index of Civil War Information on the Internet
The Library of Congress American Memory 
Valley of the Shadow:  Two Communities in the American Civil War - about Augusta County, VA
United States History, The Oxford Companion to
WWW Virtual Library History:  United States
 
 Books and Print Resources - no limit on how many books you can check out at one time.  Our checkout period is four weeks.  Library cards are free at the Circulation Desk.
 
 
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To find books in the Library, search the BRCC Online Catalog

Quick Book Search:        

 
     
Resources for locating books from other libraries.  
WorldCat 88+ million books worldwide
Augusta County Library
Bridgewater College  
Eastern Mennonite University
James Madison University
Mary Baldwin College

Massanutten Regional Library (the public library in Harrisonburg)
Staunton Public Library

University of Virginia
VA Community College Catalogs
Waynesboro Public Library

If you find a title you would like, use the Library's Interlibrary Loan service. Print, or write out the information and contact the Library. 
 
 History Periodical Indexes (Magazines, Journals & Newspapers) - this is where you can print articles from actual magazines, journals and newspapers.  For free.
 
Periodical Indexes containing Full-Text Articles  (be sure and follow all the steps on our Remote Access Directions page to be able to access these databases from your home computer)

Academic Search Complete
- our new general database.
Associates Programs Source - our new database specially designed for community college students
Blackwell - search all at once by clicking on the history link below, or click on an individual title to search it alone. 
History
Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature
Art History
Australian Economic History Review
Australian Journal of Politics and History
Centaurus
Diplomatic History
Early Medieval Europe
The Economic History Review
Gender & History
The Historian
Historical Research
History
History and Theory
History Compass
Journal of Historical Sociology
Journal of Religious History
Journal of Supreme Court History
The Journal of the Historical Society
Renaissance Studies

Google Scholar
Harpweek  actual pages from Harper's Weekly (a famous U.S. magazine) from 1842 -1877.
Factiva
- nearly 8,000 sources in 22 languages from 118 countries
Humanities International Complete
JSTOR database that is unique because the complete archives of core scholarly journals have been digitized, starting with the very first issues, many of which date from the 1800s. 
Military & Government Collection - designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, this database provides cover-to-cover full text for nearly 300 journals and periodicals and indexing and abstracts for nearly 400 titles.  
ProQuest Historical New York Times Newspaper  Full-text articles from 1851-2001.

Periodical Indexes containing Citations and Abstracts Only (Articles found in these indexes can be obtained through Interlibrary Loan).
America, History & Life  - covers over 2,000 U.S. and Canada journals since 1964  
Arts and Humanities Index - includes 2 million records from 1980 to present.  
Historical Abstracts  - World history from 1450 to present

 
Internet - you can surf the Net well, but here's how to evaluate what you find.
 

Evaluate Web Sites - important as only about 17% of the Internet is of a scholarly (college-level) nature.
 
 
 Style Guides - for MLA and APA citations for your bibliography
 
Citation Builder (MLA, APA, Scientific Style) **Shenandoah Valley Governor School conducted a research study on our online citation builders and determined that the Citation Builder was the one most error free.***
Citation Machine (MLA, APA, Chicago, Turabian*Click More Resources at the top of the MLA or APA page to bring up
Work from a Subscription Service Accessed through a Library - one or more authors which is what you need to cite an article from one of the library's databases
BibBuilder (MLA)  
Citation Wizard (APA, Chicago, CBE, ISO, MLA)
EasyBib (MLA)
Knight Cite - MLA, APA, Chicago)
Noodle Tools (MLA)
SourceAid (MLA, APA, Chicago. CMS, CSE)
Student ABC Citation Machine (APA, MLA)
UTEL MLA-Style Bibliography Builder 1.0b (MLA)

Cheat Sheets (to check your results from the sites above because they are not 100% accurate)
APA Cheat Sheet
MLA Cheat Sheet

 
Assistance - just in case
 
Question?  E-Mail a Librarian - online form to ask a quick question of the Librarian.
LRC Live - real time online help from community college librarians in VA.
Online Suggestion Box - your tuition and fees help pay for the library so let us know what we can do for you.

8/08