The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with finding historical research resources, with an emphasis on primary sources, in print and electronic forms for your research project in American newspapers published prior to 1980.

	Getting Started
	Books
	Articles
	Newspapers (new page)
	Primary Sources
	Searching the Internet
	Citing Your Sources
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Getting Started

As Dr. Watts advises, browsing through some of our newspapers will provide topics and sub-topics you might consider for your semester's work. Before committing to a focus in your topic, you will need to do some beginning research on the topic to be sure appropriate and sufficient resources are available. Look for alternate terms, personal names, geography (cities, regions), events, and specific time periods in your notes and readings.

Books

Any well researched project uses books to support your thinking and writing. There are two kinds of books you can investigate in the library--reference and circulating. To find them, either do KEYWORD searches using terms from your class readings and notes, TITLE searches for specific works, or search for AUTHORS who have been identified as authorities on the topic.

Finding Books

Reference Books (in library use)
These are works like encyclopedias, directories, and collections of reviews that do not circulate from the library. They may be quick overviews or in-depth studies and are frequently useful for short facts or overviews, birthdates, statistics and bibliographies of sources.

Circulating Books (check out and take home)
Find books on your topic by using KEYWORD or subject searches. Some books are now available in full text through the catalog. When you see a WWW connection offered, click on that link to read the book online (access is in 2 hour increments.) You can find primary document collections in book form, especially correspondence, diaries and journals.

CSUSM Library Catalog Do a KEYWORD search on the topic by typing the word or phrase in the search box. Using the term 'newspapers' is going to be extremely broad, so try adding some additional terms such as 'slavery'. Since keywords can have multiple definitions and therefore, uses, once you locate a useful title, examine the SUBJECTS for precise 'labels' to identify your topic.

Example of Catalog Screen

San Diego Circuit This shows materials you may borrow from other San Diego County universities. Either search from the CSUSM catalog by clicking on OTHER CATALOGS in the beginning search screen, or you can extend your CSUSM catalog search to Circuit by clicking on the CIRCUIT button towards the top of the screen. If you are already looking at a specific item in the catalog, Circuit will only search for that item, so be sure to work from the keyword search results list to get broader results. You may request the item online to be delivered to CSUSM for you.

Journal Articles

History journals include some of the latest research in the field and can be very helpful in your project but are secondary sources, not primary documents. They're a good source for finding very detailed information on your topic. To find articles, you need to start with a research database and preferably one that indexes scholarly sources as they are based on careful research and peer-review prior to publishing. NOTE: most databases do not cover material published prior to the early 1980's, so you may need to use print resources to do some verification.

Some databases do not offer full text of the articles. Use the button to check our other resources for full text and Interlibrary Loan for documents that we don't own in full text.

Primary Sources & Newspapers (see the Newspapers page as well)

Accessible Archives
A good source for 19th Century American History; includes newspapers on the Civil War and African Americans.

Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970
Historical Statistics - currently being tested

Making of America Project
A digital library of primary sources in American social history from the antebellum period through reconstruction (19th century imprints). Includes approx. 8,500 books and 50,000 journal articles.

Documenting the American South
A collection of primary source documents on Southern U.S. history, literature and culture.

Most Useful

America: History and Life
Abstracts of journal articles covering US and Canadian history, from pre-history to the present. This database covers materials published since the 1964-on, but covers history from prehistory through modern times. 

JSTOR
Full-text. Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such areas as sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies and others. This collection offers articles published since the late 1800's.

Project MUSE
Full text. Scholarly article collection supplementing the holdings on many titles in JSTOR by offering more currently published materials.

Also Useful

History E-Book Project
Full-text. Approximately 760 full-text e-books in the area of history. Each title is also included in the library catalog.

Primary Sources on the Internet

A primary source is a document or artifact that reflects the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer of an actual historical event. They include diaries, letters, memos, and books and commentary published at the time of the event. These are valuable tools in verifying the validity of information on another site. Many internet sites exist providing access to a mix of primary and secondary sources.  For more on primary sources, click here. Following is a list of some of the best on the internet.

• American Memory (correspondence and digitized documents, maps and photographs)
• American Women's History Digital Collections (see the Newspapers section)
• Chronicling America (Library of Congress beta of digitized newspapers for the period 1900-1910)
• Federal Bureau of Investigation's FOIA Site (See Reading Room Index)
• Google News (limited historical content, and much is pay-per-view)
• Internet History Sourcebooks Project (Fordham University) provides access to the Modern History Sourcebook
• National Archives (from the National Archives and Records Administration, see the Access to Archival Databases or Digital Classroom areas)
• NewspaperArchive.com (much is fee-based access, but there are some free topical collections available)
• Primary Sources on the Web (from the helpful librarian members of the American Library Association's Reference & Users Services Association)
• History Subject Guide A portal of resources gathered by CSUSM librarians
• Primary Documents Online (CSUSM portal)

Searching the Internet

There are ways to search the internet quickly and effectively. Use Advanced or Expert Search whenever possible to focus your results and eliminate sites you can't use like those in languages you cannot read.

Finding the better sites

• Limit your searches to high quality domains: .edu (university servers), .org (museums and associations), .mil (military servers) or .gov (US and state governments).
• Use appropriate language to accurately describe your topic.
• Spell names or phrases accurately--be aware of alternate spellings used in earlier time periods.
• Look for bibliographies or references to the works used for the site's contents.
• Know your topic!
• Evaluate for bias or incomplete information

Citing Your Sources

As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and ideas from the sources you've found.  In order to cite your resources properly, you need to follow the style guide used by for this class, the Chicago Manual of Style.

Chicago manual of style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003 Quick Summary -- Documentary Note Style  (, 42k) History: Documenting Sources Using Chicago Note Style (Diana Hacker's site) Chicago/Turabian Documentation from University of Wisconsin-Madison Library Copies (REFERENCE Z253 .U69 2003)

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