Library Guides: History: Getting started

State-of-research guides

Reference sources like these will guide you through the recent scholarly thinking on a topic and then point you to related primary and secondary sources. The Oxford, Cambridge and Blackwell titles listed below are high-caliber introductions into a field.

Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Excellent peer-reviewed, annotated bibliographies; browseable by subject area and searchable by keyword.
Regularly updated annotated bibliographies. University of Chicago Library subscribes to many sections of Oxford Bibliographies Online such as African Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Atlantic History, Buddhism, Childhood Studies, Chinese Studies, Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, Environmental Science, Geography, International Law, International Relations, Islamic Studies, Latin American Studies, Medieval Studies, Military History, Music, Political Science, Renaissance and Reformation, Social Work, and Sociology.

Blackwell Companions to History
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Includes:
--The Medieval World
--The Reformation World
--18th-Century Europe
--French Revolution
--19th-century Europe, 1789-1914
--International History, 1900-2001
--Mexican History and Culture
--Europe Since 1945
--Globalization
Blackwell Companions in Cultural Studies

Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new window
These subject-based collections serve as excellent starting points for further research. Series edited by University of Chicago History professors include: World History and History of the First World War
This unique historical reference compendium allows instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series. With access to the most up to date and authoritative scholarly content, Cambridge Histories Online is an invaluable resource, for undergraduates, graduates, lecturers and researchers alike.

All the available volumes are grouped into topics, making it quick and easy to search and browse through an array of historical subject areas. The extensive bibliographic referencing and other leading functionality, enhances usability and makes this resource ideal for any type of historical research.

American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature
A survey of the "most useful books and articles" in every field of historical scholarship. At the end of volume two is a list of core journals arranged by subject and sub-field.
Harvard Guide to American History
Though dated and superseded, a useful guide to scholarship in political, social and economic history before 1970. Print.
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Includes bibliographical references to materials in political, social, constitutional, and economic history. Divided into nine parts: 1) Research Methods and Materials, 2) Biographies and Personal Records, 3) Comprehensive and Area Histories, 4) Histories of Special Subjects, 5) America to 1789, 6) U.S., 1789-1860, 7) Civil War and Reconstruction, 8) Rise of Industry and Empire, and 9) Twentieth Century. Volume II also contains an index of names and a subject index.
Harvard Gude to African-American History
Published in 2001; in print only.

Research Encyclopedias

Oxford Research Encyclopedias: American History This link opens in a new window
Welcome to an entirely online, digital research encyclopedia that ultimately will cover the entire sweep of American history. Its essays will be based on the latest, most persuasive research and will incorporate visual and sound materials and links to original sources that could not be included in traditional printed encyclopedia.
Oxford Research Encyclopedias: International Studies This link opens in a new window
The Encyclopedia is designed to provide scholars and students of international studies with an analytical overview of the scholarship within this ever-expanding, interdisciplinary field. The articles provide thorough examinations of topics within international studies, exploring the scope of inquiry; the current and prior theoretical, methodological, and empirical debates; and the evolution of scholarship
Oxford Research Encyclopedias: Politics This link opens in a new window
Updated monthly, multi-media features embedded in articles, along with cross-referenced links to related content will further expand the scope of the ORE. With in-depth peer-reviewed articles and broad coverage of the field.

Sources and methods

Routledge Guides to Using Historical Sources
Individual titles in the series include, Understanding Medieval Primary Sources; Reading Russian Sources; Interpretation of Texts from the 19th-and 20th-Centuries, and many more.
Some ebooks; mostly in print.
Sage research methods series
A link to a number of guides and case studies in multidisciplinary social science methods.

Cited reference searching

The Library provides several sources resources for locating measures of research impact in the humanistic social sciences. Tools are often integrated into articles databases.

Web of Science This link opens in a new window
Authoritative, multidisciplinary content covers over 10,000 of the highest impact journals worldwide, including Open Access journals and over 110,000 conference proceedings. You'll find current and retrospective coverage in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities, with coverage available to 1900. Includes the Science Citation Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Web of Science is especially useful for its citation linking.
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window
America: History & Life is the definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. With indexing for 1,700 journals from 1964 to present.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Historical Abstracts is an exceptional resource that covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present, including world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more - essential for libraries supporting upper-division and graduate research. This authoritative database provides indexing of more than 1,700 academic historical journals in over 40 languages back to 1955.

(Description taken from EBSCO website.)