Home - ENGLISH 112 Subject Guide - Library Research Guides at Boise State University

Finding Information

When searching for information for your historical research essay, you will want to find information in a variety of ways:

1) in books by searching in WorldCat Local or the Boise State University Only Catalog

2) in articles by searching in online indexes and databases available through the Library's website

3) in websites by searching online using a search such as Google

4) by talking to people in person about your topic by doing interviews

Use the tabs above to find additional information about finding books, articles, websites, oral histories and primary sources for your topic.

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Where to Find Information by Time Period

Here are some suggested online article indexes and databases to use by time period. WorldCat Local and the Boise State University Only Catalog can be found on the Library's website. The other article indexes and databases can be found by going to FIND-->Articles & Databases A-Z on the Library's website.

To access the databases below, other than WorldCat Local, go to the Library's Find Articles, Databases page.

1) For material on most time periods and geographic regions:

WorldCat Local (or Boise State University Only Catalog) -- books

ARTstor -- images

2) For the current time period, 1970- forward, most of the article indexes will be helpful, especially:

     Academic Search Premier (indexes magazines, journals and newspapers)

     ProQuest Central (indexes magazines, journals and newspapers)

     MasterFile Premier (indexes mostly magazines)

   National Newspapers (for fulltext of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal,
     Washington Post and many more)

     America History and Life-- for United States and Canada (articles and book reviews
     in history journals and dissertations)

     Historical Abstracts--for the rest of the world (articles, book reviews and
     dissertations)

3) For the early twentieth century (1900-1970), these article indexes will be helpful:

America: History & Life -- United States and Canada (articles and book reviews in
history journals and dissertations)

     Historical Abstracts--the rest of the world (articles and book reviews in history journals
     and dissertations) Most of these are more comprehensive in their coverage of the
     United States but other countries are included in some of the news stories

     Historical New York Times

     Historical Los Angeles Times

     Reader's Guide Retrospective

     Keesing's Contemporary Archives (print only)-- 1931-- present -- this one has a
     British focus

4) For earlier than the twentieth century

America History and Life-- United States and Canada (articles and book reviews in
history journals and dissertations)

Historical Abstracts--the rest of the world (articles and book reviews in
history journals and dissertations)

Historical Los Angeles Times -- 1881-1900

Historical New York Times - 1850-1900

Virginia Gazette -- 1736-1780 (microfilm only)

5) From prehistory to now for the United States and Canada

America History and Life--articles and book reviews in history journals
and dissertations

6) From 1450 to now, all of the world except the United States and Canada

Historical Abstracts--articles and book reviews in history journals
and dissertations

7) For earlier than 1450 for Europe, Asia, Middle East, India, Africa, Australia
and Latin America

Books are the richest sources of information for these historical periods so use
WorldCat Local or the Boise State University Only Catalog

     Bibliographies are often used in the humanities. A bibliography is a list of items such
     as books, documents, articles, videos etc. arranged in a logical order and having
     something in common such as a subject, the author or producer, or the geographic
     regionSo if your topic is set in ancient Greece or Rome, or during the Medieval or
     Renaissance time periods, look for a bibliography on your time period or region.
     Within the bibliography, look through the sources listed for something that might be
     useful for you, then search to see if the Library has the item.
     "Bibliography" can be used as a sub heading in LC subject headings.

     More challenging resources to use:

     Combined Retrospective Index Set to Journals in History,1838-1974- (print only)
     - index D1 .C7 1977
     Vol. 1-4 cover articles on World History, categorized by country then time period
     then topic.
     Note: the 1838-1974 refers to the journal publication dates, not the time periods
     covered within the articles themselves.