History is a topic with broad interest that extends beyond history scholars. For this reason, you must pay particular attention to the quality and audience of the sources you will use in your research. Look for substantial sources that clearly display indicators of scholarliness:

• Authority: Written by a history scholar with an advanced academic credential, published by a reputable academic organization or publisher.
• Audience: Aimed at an academic audience in the field of History; look for specialized language and formal academic style, format and organization in the writing.
• Process: The source should be based on substantial original historical research (look for footnotes and bibliography, mention of primary sources), and be peer-reviewed.

Scholarly Sources include

• Scholarly history books - note the university publisher and the mention of bibliographic references.
• Scholarly journal articles - note the author affiliation, article length and style, footnotes and title of journal where article appears.

Hands On: Quickly skim the sources below, looking for signs of whether the sources are scholarly sources appropriate for use in an academic History paper or not. Based on the evidence you see while skimming, "vote" on whether the sources are appropriate or not. NOTE: You don't have time to read these sources, so skim for clues as quickly as you can, using the indicators mentioned above as your guide.

1. From Rosie to Real

2. A Sign From Our Past

3. Soldiers of the Pen: The Writers' War Board in World War II

4. Women’s Fashion History Through Newspapers: 1900-1920

5. Tippling Ladies and the Making of Consumer Culture: Gender and Public Space in Fin-de-Siècle Chicago

6. Buyways: Billboards, Automobiles, and the American Landscape

7. A Historical Analysis of Tobacco Marketing and the Uptake of Smoking by Youth in the United States: 1890-1977

LibrarySearch is the best starting point for finding books and articles at MRU

• Within the search results, don't overlook items that seem broadly related to your topic. Look at the item descriptions and article abstracts, chapter headings of books, or do quick keyword searches of ebooks to see if your narrower or more specific topic discussed.
• Put important phrases inside quotation marks e.g., "consumer culture" 
• Put synonyms inside brackets to search for either one at the same time e.g., (automobiles OR cars) 
   

Pro Tip
For some topics, it can be difficult to find narrow a topic successfully via your search terms. Try limiting your search by selecting Subject from the options on the right side, then choose a relevant subject tag from the list of options.

Pro Tip
Did you know you can lock your filters in place in Library Search? Hover your cursor over the limit and click to look it in place. Now, even if you change your search terms, the limit will stay in place.

If you find yourself overwhelmed with results in LibrarySearch you can try some of the following journal article databases which search fewer, but potentially more relevant, journals.

Use the same strategies you used in LibrarySearch, and be sure to use the advanced search options and filters to improve results.

Emergence of Advertising in America - Duke University collection of advertisements, 1850-1920.

Smithsonian: Warshaw Collection of Business American a 1724-1977  - Largest advertising ephemera collection in the USA.

Ad*Access - US and Canadian advertisements covering beauty and hygiene, radio, television, transportation and World War II propaganda, 1911-1955.

Consumer Advertising During the Great Depression: A Resource Guide - Covers many different aspects of advertising during this period, including grocery advertising and gender in advertising, 

MRU Library Primary Sources for US History - try the historical newspaper section, the Library of Congress and National Archives links.

- MRU guide to Chicago style references (2022-23)

- More Chicago citation resources

- Chicago style - slide presentation