History & Social Studies Guides

The USIC Portal includes links to the catalog and all subscription databases, digital books, collections, library services, etc. 

Use the menu to access specific course guides.

The following guide includes a pre-searching plan and some recommended resources to get you started on your topic. 

Required resources:

Required Citation Style: Chicago Turabian

Pre-Searching Plan

1. What is the Research Question: How should history evaluate the following historical figure [insert the name of your historical figure]? 

2. What essential questions will guide your research?

• Who is [insert the name of your historical figure]?
• What did he/she do in life?
• What did others say or write about this person?
• What kinds of behavior indicate having or not having the character trait?
• etc.

3. Main Topics or Subject Areas.  There are multiple areas for finding information and those areas are identified by the call number on the books. For this assignment you must--of course--look in the history section (900s) in areas divided by country or region of the world. Some of you can also look in the Social Science area (300s) that includes: politics, human rights, cultures, etc. Some of you are researching artists, so you can look in the arts (700s), and others can look in Religion (200s) for religious figures. The bottom line is to assume that your historical figure 

4. Keywords

5. Effective Keyword Combinations (ex: [keyword + keyword + keyword]  Le[ tracl pf these so you can use tis material again.

6. Other considerations. Perspective, Purpose, Audience, Author's Role.

Reference for Background

• Britannia (Print or digital)
•    

Books (Print & Digital)

Journal Articles

Brief summary of the research requirements (as stated in your packet):

You must utilize information from a minimum of 5 credible sources with at least one source from each of the following: encyclopedia, scholarly book, and journal article. You need to use Chicago (aka Turabian) style to format your bibliography.

Note: Your teachers have reserved many books for this research unit. The books cannot be checked out, but will remain on carts throughout the unit for your use. If you find additional information in a book that is not on reserve, please add it to the reserve carts, so others can use it as well.  If you find a digital source, please tell us, so we can add it digitally to the reserve list.

Main subjects related to the assignment and their call-number locations on the library shelves. 

History (900s), France (944), French Revolution (944.04), 
Philosophy (100s), Philosophers (180-190) 
Biography (920s) or within a related country, event, etc.

Encyclopedias:

Encyclopedias are part of reference book and a good starting point for any research. Encyclopedias provide background information, and one page or one detailed entry is ideal to begin your search for information. Besides gathering background information on your character, make notes of keywords (associated names, places, alternate spellings, etc.) that you can use to search for additional sources.You are required to use a minimum of one of these. Some of these reference books are on the carts and some are located in the reference area.

Students like these print encyclopedias: Concise Routlege Encyclopedia of Philosophy (REF 103 CON); Literature and Its Times: Ancient Times....French Revolutions (REF 809.93358 LIT); The Wilson Chronology of Ideas (REF 909 OCH); Chronology of the Expanding World 1492-1762 (REF 909 WIL); Chronolgy of the Modern Wrold 1763-1992 (REF 909 WIL); American National Biography (REF 920 AME); Encyclopedia of World Biography (REF 920 ENC); Women in World History (REF 920 WOM); American Revolution (REF 973.3 AME).

You would be very smart to try these e-Reference: Oxford Quick Reference and Gale Virtual Reference.
Note for Oxford Quick Reference: Look for the green, open lock for immediate access or request access if you see a red, closed lock. 

Books and eBooks:

Information on your character may appear in any book associated with that character in any way, so expect to use multiple "angles" to find information. For instance, the entire book could be about your character, a biography or autobiography. More likely, however, your character will be mentioned in books on other topics: an event in history, a country, a perspective, a philosophy, etc. Use the index in the back of the book to find information about your character, or look up persons, places, and things associated with your character. You are required to use a minimum of one book or eBook. The format doesn't matter, but the content does.

Here is a link to all print books on reserve as well as some link to eBooks. The print books are on the carts.  Please do not check out the eBook if given the option. You should be able to read online without checking out the book. Report technical difficulties if you encounter them, so we can help.

"Questia eBook Collection" is a subscription database, and another good source for many of you. The login is your new email address (____@student.tas.tw) and the password is "questia". Use only the USIC link to Questia to access through our school subscription.  You will like the searching and saving options in Questia.

Journal Articles:

Serious research includes finding and using journal articles.  You are required to use a minimum of one journal article. There are no articles that have been pulled or identified for you, so you yourself must find them. 

The three recommended databases for finding journal articles are:
1. Ebsco database collection: Academic Search Complete, AP Source, MAS-Ultra, MIddle Search Plus. You can search them all at once. Ask how if you don't know.
2. Project Muse: Single database.  Lots of full text. 
3. JSTOR: A favorite of many students, especially juniors and seniors. Highly academic. 

Chicago / Turabian Style for Citations and formatting.

You will format your bibliography or list of sources according to the Chicago / Turabian style. Use this link to find recommended resources on Chicago/Turabian and to see sample entries.

A citation manager is very helpful. I highly recommend that you use Noodletools to manage your citations. Another increasingly popular tool with students is Zotero.