Research Guide, HIS/POL401 Research & Writing in History/Political Science

Introduction to Research/Research Help

• Ask a Reference Librarian
• Citing Your Sources
• Library Tutorials
• Primary vs. Secondary Sources
• Research Tips

Reference Resources

Print Reference Resources

• The Americana Annual  R031 Am35
• World Book Year Book  R031 W893
• Statistical Abstract of the United States  R317.3 Un3s
• The World Almanac and Book of Facts  R920.02 C936
• Who's Who in America  R920.073 W628
• Who's Who in the Midwest  R920.077 W62
• The Annals of America  R973 An72
• Historic Documents  R973 C76

Electronic Reference Resources

• American Decades Primary Sources [Gale, 2004]
• History Behind the Headlines: The Origins of Conflicts Worldwide [Gale, 2003]

Finding Periodicals & Newspapers

Databases

• Academic Search Premier - Most areas of academic study with some information dating back to 1975. Some full text. 
• Historical New York Times - Full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. 
• JSTOR - Full text as a digital image in range of disciplines. (Coverage: Begins with first issue.  Most recent available issue will be 3-5 years old depending upon publisher contract.) 
• MasterFile Premier - General interest subject areas in the form of full-text reference books, biographies, primary source documents, and images. 
• Project Muse - Full text of scholarly journals in a range of subject areas. 
• ProQuest - Most areas of academic study. 
• Additional Humanities Databases

Print Indexes (Located on the top shelves in the Reference collection)

• Business Periodicals Index  R016.6505 B964 
• PAIS Bulletin: Public Affairs Information Service  R016.32 P96 
• Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature  R050 W748

Journal Finder/Article Linker - Use this tool to search for journal titles by title or ISSN or browse for journals by title or subject area.

Finding Books

Catalogs

• CLICnet - The shared catalog of Cooperating Libraries in Consortium 
• OCLC - OCLC catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide.

eBook Collections

• ACLS Humanities eBook Project - Includes over 1230 full-text, cross-searchable books in the fields of humanities and history selected by historians for their continuing importance to students and scholars. 
• NetLibrary - Collection of over 12,000 copyrighted and public domain eBooks available for patrons of Concordia University in collaboration with CLIC and MINITEX.

Web Resources

• 2009 Statistical Abstract: Historical Statistics - "The Statistical Abstract of the United States is the standard summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States." 
• American Memory - "...provides free and open access...to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience." 
• American Rhetoric - Includes an Online Speech Bank, the "Top 100 Speeches", and famous speeches from movies. Only some include video. 
• GPO Access - "A service of the U.S. Government Printing Office that provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government." 
• HISTORICAL Census Browser - Examine state and county topics for individual census years beginning with the 1790 census. 
• Internet Archive: Universal Newsreels - "In the pre-TV era, people saw the news every week in their neighborhood movie theaters...Universal Newsreel, produced from 1929 to 1967, was released twice a week. Each issue contained six or seven short stories, usually one to two minutes in length, covering world events, politics, sports, fashion, and whatever else might entertain the movie audience. These newsreels offer a fascinating and unique view of an era when motion pictures defined our culture and were a primary source of visual news reporting."  
• Minnesota Reflections - "...the first collection in the Minnesota Digital Library, brings you more than 6,000 digital images of the state's first 50 years." 
• Minnesota Video Vault - Provides access to hundreds of videos and Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) productions, from short clips to lengthy shows.  The "Educators" button allows you to sort by very broad K12 areas. 
• NYPL Digital Gallery - "Provides free and open access to over 700,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections" 
• Open Video Project - The purpose of the Open Video Project is to collect and make available a repository of digitized video content for the digital video, multimedia retrieval, digital library, and other research communities.
• PBS Video - Online repository of  PBS programs, streaming on demand. Popular titles include Frontline, Nature, NewHour, and Nova.  
• Scout Archives - Provides reviews of online resources, including digital archives and collections.   A new issue is published every Friday, and the archives are searchable.

Other Libraries

• Minnesota Historical Society
  • Catalog
• Hennepin County Library
  • Catalog
• St. Paul Public Library
  • Catalog
• University of Minnesota Libraries
  • Catalog
• University of Minnesota Archives & Special Collections
  • Finding Aids