History-Start Your Research

Welcome to the world of historical research!  History is the study of past events, people, cultures, and societies.  Whether you're exploring ancient civilizations, modern history, or the history of your local community, historical research involves the study of causes and effects.  

In this guide you will find introductions to the many different scholarly resources that are available for you to use.  Whether you need help finding primary or secondary sources, databases, or tips on how to search the library’s catalog, this guide will provide what is  most relevant for your historical research. 

In some cases, your professor or instructor will give you a topic. In others, you need to come up with your own. Here are some general tips to help you to get started:

• Make sure you understand your assignment (Link to UNC video tutorial about understanding assignments). Talk to your professor or teaching assistant if you have questions.
• Think about your interests. What would you like to spend time learning more about? Look over your course materials and lecture notes for ideas. Write down a list of keywords and phrases that interest you.
• Use a topic ideas database such as CQ Researcher or NewsBank Hot Topics (links on this page or the library Database A-Z List).
• Read current periodicals, browse the internet, and check out reference resources and encyclopedias such as Gale e-books (formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library).

• Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Provides access to a collection of reference books including encyclopedias, dictionaries, measurement conversions and more. For Chrome browser users, follow this link to troubleshoot a known issue. 
• Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window Contains a database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research, with content in literature, religion and LGBTQ history. Previously Gale Virtual Reference Library. 

Sources for getting an Ideas

• Required and optional course readings
• News
• Conversations with others
• Visiting your professor's office hours
• Consulting with your Librarian
• Podcasts
• Inspiration from your environment

More Tips

Be careful not to pick a topic too narrow or too broad. You might not be able to find enough relevant information or you might be overwhelmed with too much information. As you start your research, you might need to adjust your topic. Reach out to a librarian for help.

Check out the Research Guide for your subject area, which will include links to helpful resources commonly used by researchers. Our research librarians create these guides.  You can always meet with a librarian to get personalized help with your research. 

1. Utilize appropriate limiters and specific fields.

• date limiter, articles only, title field etc.

2. Use terminology related to your topic.

• from preliminary readings or reference material e.g. books from class, Credo, Oxford Reference
• by skimming through initial search results
• in considering the terminology of the time period

3. Join different terms with AND.  Join similar terms with OR.

• gender AND propaganda
• community OR society

4. Use truncation (often *) to look for variations of a term.

• communit* to search for community OR communities

5. Search for a phrase using quotation marks.

• "labor dispute"
• "Pullman strike"
• "social movement"
• "San Joaquin Valley"

6. If you do not retrieve any results,

• broaden your search. e.g. from Advertising to -->> Advertising OR "Mass media"
• narrow your search e.g. "navy technology" to ---> a specific type of navy technology e.g. submarine
• examine your terminology. Am I using appropriate search terms?
• consider if the database is suitable. Does this database include the content I need?