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HIST 138: Home

Summon

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Search approximately 300 million books, scholarly articles, newspaper articles, data, digital audio, digital video, digital images, government documents and more. It draws from the library catalog (OBIS), many of the full text and article indexing databases, as well as digital repositories from colleges, universities, research centers, and other open-access archives on the web. 

Search Strategy

Identify keywords - nouns, verbs, and adjectives used to describe concepts related to your primary source. Remember that primary and secondary sources may use very different terms to describe the same idea. Use the language commonly used in secondary sources to find secondary sources. 

If you're not sure what language scholars would use in secondary sources, try the following: 

  • Find more information about the topic in sources found on the Background/Context tab of this guide
  • Consult secondary readings assigned in the course and your lecture notes. What terms were used there? 

Search for books and journal articles. Start in Summon, then move to OBIS for books or subject specific databases for journal articles as needed. Organize your search terms using the graphical guide in the handout below. 

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