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| Guide to Historical Reading: Non-fiction | REF Z 6201 .I7 |
| Harvard Guide to American History | REF Z 1236 .F77 |
Biographies are dictionaries and indexes devoted exclusively to information about people. Information included in biographical sources usually includes the place and date of birth, details about the person's education and major work experiences, character, personality, and contributions to their chosen field. Biographical sources vary as to how much detailed coverage is provided.
| Dictionary of World Biography; ten volumes. | REF CT 104 .D54 |
| Great Lives from History; five volumes. | REF CT 104 .G68 |
| McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography; seventeen volumes. | REF CT 103 .M27 |
Books are written or printed works produced by one or more authors. Individuals or committees with expertise in the field often edit books. Because they provide comprehensive information on their subject at the time of publication, books are very valuable in the research process. For many subject areas this is the best starting point for research. Many books contain valuable bibliographies at end of each chapter or at the close of the book. This provides an excellent entry point into the subject material as well to the authors publishing in a particular field of study.
History books make up a major portion of the print collection and, depending upon your field of research, can be spread throughout the stacks in the Library of Congress classification system. That said, most of what we think of as “History” is contained within the call numbers listed below.
| C | Auxiliary Sciences of History (General) | |
| CB | History of Civilization | |
| D | World History and History of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc. | |
| E, F | History of the Americas. | |
| G | Geography (General). Atlases. Maps. | |
| GN | Anthropology | |
| GR | Folklore |
Citation Guides and Quick Tip Sheets
Citing information resources one uses in a paper or project is very important. It is vital that a student provide the resources where they found the information they paraphrase or the quotes they use in their work in the proper citation format. This can be in MLA, APA, or other formats that the course instructor requires.
The guides and links in this section will enable persons to properly use in body citations and create works cited or bibliography pages.
Online information databases are large, regularly updated collections of digitized information -- including but not limited to abstracts and full text articles from journals and newspapers, conference proceedings and submitted papers, dissertations, government reports, essays, book chapters, web pages, etc. The content is created by publishers who release print versions, then lease the rights to their information to database vendors. Database records are easy to search and retrieve because the content of each record has been analyzed and assigned appropriate subject headings, keywords, names, etc. New records are regularly downloaded from the producer of each database.
In order to access these resources off-campus, you must first obtain the passwords.
A dictionary is any single or multi-volume work which briefly explains terms and topics related to a specific subject, usually arranged alphabetically. Dictionary entries are usually shorter than those found in an encyclopedia. Dictionaries assist with the understanding of terminology and concepts, suggest synonyms, related terms, and scientific names, and are useful resources to consult when formulating and refining your research strategy. Often illustrations and references to additional resources are included.
| Dictionary of Historic Documents | REF D 9 .K63 |
| Dictionary of Historic Terms | REF D 9 .C67 |
Encyclopedias are among the most widely used reference sources and contain articles of varying lengths covering all fields of knowledge. Typically encyclopedias cover many topics but without going into a great deal of depth on any one thing. Encyclopedias are a good starting point for researching topics that you do not know much about or that are completely new to you. They can give you background information which can help when you move to more in-depth sources later. Specialized encyclopedias may cover just one field or even a sub-unit of that field. Subject encyclopedias can be consulted for detailed or technical information on a subject.
| Christopher Columbus Encyclopedia; two volumes. | REF E 111 .C774 |
| Encyclopedia of the Holocaust; two volumes. | REF D 804.3 .E53 |
| Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages | REF D 114 .B86 |
| Encyclopedia of Women in American History; three volumes. | REF HQ 1410 .E53 |
| Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization; two volumes. | REF DE 5 .094 |
| Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures; three volumes. | REF F 1218.6 .095 |
| Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World | REF DS 35.53 .095 |
| Oxford Encyclopedia of World History | REF D 21 .E577 |
| World Geographical Encyclopedia; five volumes. | REF G 63 .E5213 |
Government information is generated by local, state, national, and international governments on almost all topics. Most government information is undergoing a major shift from traditional formats such as print and microfiche, to a variety of electronic formats available through the Internet. Government information is considered to be a primary, authoritative and reliable resource. To find government information on your topic, search the library catalog, specialized indexes, and government agency web sites.
An excellent resource for all types of government information in virtually any subject area or topic is the GSA Federal Citizen Information Center. Individuals can access information online or by using the Consumer Information Catalog to locate items.
Handbooks, manuals and guides are resources which supply concise factual and statistical information often in the form of charts, graphs, tables and formulas. These sources have very basic information, with little or no discussion or analysis of the facts they present. They cover a wide variety of topics, and as with other reference sources, these tools may be general or specific to a field, group of people, or era. These sources are frequently updated, which makes them valuable for locating current information. Try searching the online catalog using the keywords of your topic combined with one of the following keywords: handbook, manual or guide.
| American Decades; nine volumes. | REF E 169.12 .A419 |
| Handbook of American Women's History | REF HQ 1410 .H36 |
| The Pageant Of America; fifteen volumes. | REF E 169.1 .P145 |
Journals are scholarly periodicals which publish current research and commentary on their specific field of study. Most scholarly journals are peer-reviewed which means they have been reviewed and verified by a panel of experts in the field.
The link below provides a list of all print journals and magazines and their location currently available here in the Rose Library
Web sites are often a blend of information, entertainment and advertising, and this can make determining the credibility of a web site difficult. However, if you apply specific criteria and ask certain questions about any web site and the information it provides, you have a better chance of finding the best the web has to offer. It is necessary to critically evaluate information found on the web since almost anything can be put online.
The steps to take to evaluate Internet information can be valuable in determining if the information is of academic value. It's very important to learn to evaluate web resources before using them in an academic project; not all resources are reasonable for all purposes!