Researching/Writing History - Local and Regional History Research Guide - Longview - LibGuides at Metropolitan Community College Kansas City

Tips for Searching the Catalog and Databases for History Sources

Searching for books, e-books, videos, and articles through the library website is simple! Here are some tips that will assit you along the way.

Catalog searching: Unless you know the specific title or author, we recommend that you start your search by using the keyword search function. You may use as little as a single word, or you may combine several words in the same search to narrow down your results. Examples: history; missouri history; kansas history; kansas city history; midwest history; missouri civil war history; etc. Once you locate individual titles, you will see LC subject headings under the titles. These headings are formal ways of organizing the items in our library catalog. You may click on these headings to pull up other items that contain the same subject.
Database searching: The search functions in the databases work nearly the same as with the catalog. Unless you have a specific article title or article author, we recommend searching by keyword or keywords to locate articles. You may also limit your search by full-text, date range, and several other types of qualifiers, such as scholarly/academic journal articles or popular magazine articles.

Databases Related to History Research

African-American History Online (Facts on File) This link opens in a new window
Provides material from core reference resources in African American studies. Includes biographies, subject entries, primary sources, images, maps, and timelines.
American History Online (Facts on File) This link opens in a new window
Contains about 2,400 important primary source documents from more than 500 years of American history. Hyperlinks guide users to related documents, biographies, and images.
American Indian History Online (Facts on File) This link opens in a new window
Provides coverage of more than 5,000 years of culture, legends, and leaders. Over 500 Native American groups are covered, including primary source documents, biographies, maps and charts, images, and timelines.
American Women's History Online (Facts on File) This link opens in a new window
Includes biographies, historical and topical entries, speeches, maps, timelines, tables and charts, primary sources, and photographs.
HeritageQuest This link opens in a new window
Search a collection of genealogical and historical sources, including federal census records from 1790 to 1940, Revolutionary War records, Freedman's Bank records for African Americans post-Civil War, genealogy and local history books and periodicals, and petitions and actions made to Congress back to 1789.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
An archived database of articles from academic journals in many fields, especially history, sociology, political science, business, education, law, economics, ethnic studies, language & literature, philosophy, religion, music, art & art history, film studies, folklore, the performing arts, health, mathematics, and the sciences.

How to Write History

Southwestern University: Guide for Writing History
This guides covers common types of writing in history, conventions of writing in history, finding evidence, and citing.
Harvard College: A Brief Guide to Writing the History Paper
A brief guide to writing history papers, finding appropriate sources, and citing evidence.
Rutgers University: Writing Historical Essays: A Guide for Undergraduates
The purpose of this guide is to provide you with the basics for writing undergraduate history essays and papers.

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