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Quick Tips on Preparing for Research
Before you start:
- understand the key terms you may be using as well as the general area that interests you;
- think about ways to narrow your topic, making it as specific as possible (unless you have been given a specific topic to research!);
- create a thesis statement;
- list the main concepts (key words) included in your thesis statement (research question), then based on your readings;
- find as many synonyms as you can for each main concept. You are now ready to start searching in the library's catalogue and databases.
When you are looking for definitions or if you don’t know much about a specific subject, reference works such as dictionaries and encyclopedias become invaluable because they contain relatively short—and understandable—articles. These articles often lay out the parameters of a subject and can assist you in trying to narrow your topic. Often such articles are accompanied by lists of readings (bibliographies) which allow you to explore your topic further.
The best general reference work is: The Encyclopedia Britannica. The two panels to the right feature some of the key research aids in the discipline of History.
Reference Sources for North America
- Canadian Encyclopedia
- Dictionary of Canadian Biography
- Encyclopedia of American Indian History (print)
- Encyclopedia of American Urban History (online)
- Encyclopedia of US Labor and Working-Class History (print)
- Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media (print)
- Encyclopedia of Strikes in American History (print)
- Historical Encyclopedia of American Labor (print)
- Oxford Companion to American History (print)
- Oxford Companion to Canadian History (print)
- Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History (online)
- Virtual Museum of New France
- Witch Hunts in Europe and America: An Encyclopedia (print)
Reference Sources for European and World History
- Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800-1914 (print)
- Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (online)
- Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350-2000 (print)
- Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (online)
- Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History (online)
- Medieval Germany (online)
- Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia (online)
- Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism (online)
- Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance (online)
- Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World: 1750 to the Present (online)
- Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation (online)
- Women in World History: A Biographical Enyclopedia. Online and print