Books are often the best starting point for studying a historical topic that is new to you.

• They will address multiple aspects of a large topic, for example, discussing the broader historical context of an issue or event in one chapter, with chapters on specific aspects of the issue, or a chapter on key historical figures in another chapter.
• Looking at the chapters in a book on a topic that interests you is a great way to narrow a research topic too. 
• If you come from an academic field that publishes its research mostly in the form of journal articles, it is important to know that in the discipline of History, books are an important form of scholarly publication and dissemination and should not be overlooked.

LibrarySearch is the best way to find print and electronic books at MRU.

LibrarySearch isn't searching within the books themselves, so you may find additional sources by searching more broadly for the issue or time period into which your topic might fall (e.g., searching for "popular culture" Canada history if a search for television Canada history was unsuccessful). Within those books, look at the chapter headings or check the index to see if your narrower topic of television is discussed.

Basic Tips

• Try putting important phrases inside quotes, to keep the words together, e.g., "social gospel"
   
• To search for all possible endings of a word stem, add an asterisk e.g., Canad*
   
• Limit your search to books by selecting Resource Type - Books from the options on the right

• Make sure that the book you have chosen takes a scholarly approach to the topic. These means that the book is written by an expert in the field (e.g. a Professor of History or closely related field; Google if it is unclear) who cites the source material they used throughout the boo (so look for evidence of notes or a bibliography). Typically, these books are published by university presses (e.g. Oxford University Press) or publishers who specialize in academic publishing (e.g. Routledge, Wiley, Bloomsbury, Basic, ABC-Clio; Google if it is unclear)
  • Example of a scholarly book - "Through Sunshine and Shadow": The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform in Ontario, 1874-1930

Pro Tip #1

For some topics, it can be difficult to find books about the Canadian historical context. Canadian history is a relatively small area of study compared to British or American history. If adding the search term Canada to your search words doesn't seem to narrow things down, limit your search by selecting Subject from the options on the right side, then choose Canada (or another relevant subject tag) from the list of options.

Pro Tip #2

To improve the relevance of search results, use the drop down menus under the search box. Try searching for your keywords in the subject or title of results. For even more ways to improve your search, try the drop-down menus on the advanced search screen.

Pro Tip #3

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.

Finding & Recognizing Journal Articles

You can start your search for journal articles using LibrarySearch - which is the Books, Articles and More search box on the MRU Library. If you find yourself overwhelmed with results there, you can try some of the following journal article databases which search fewer, but potentially more relevant, journals.

Use the same strategies you used to find scholarly books - broaden and narrow your search by revising your keywords and use the available filters. 

Not sure if your source is a scholarly article? They typically have the following characteristics:

• written by an expert in the field, usually a PhD or similar in History or a closely related field
• the university/institution the author is affiliated with is listed 
• writing is formal and aimed at other experts in the field
• sources are cited throughout
• lengthy
• peer reviewed (Google the journal title if you aren't sure or it there is no peer reviewed label)
• Example of a scholarly article: Heredity as Ideology: "Ideas of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of the United States and Ontario on Heredity and Social Reform, 1880-1910"
   

Be aware of these popular, non-scholarly history magazines with a lot of Canadian content

• Canada's History is a well known, popular history magazine that includes articles about many, many of the topics covered in this course. Though it may be informative as you try to choose or narrow down a topic for an essay, it is not a scholarly source and is generally not appropriate for academic use.
• Example of a non-scholarly/popular article from Canada's History: "1918 - Year of the Conscript"
• Other popular, non-scholarly magazines to be aware of:
  • The Beaver - the former name of Canada's History
  • History Magazine
  • History Today
• Or look for these indicators of popular, non-scholarly publications
  • articles are short (less than 10-12 pages)
  • very few or no footnotes or references
  • may include many images
  • author is usually but not always unaffiliated with any university or college 

Journal Article Databases For History

America History & Life - Important article database for Canadian and US history. Start here when if you need a history specific tool for Canadian history.

Pro Tips for America History & Life

• Use the advanced search screen to improve the relevance of results - try searching for a term only in the subject tags or in the abstract, or search for Canada in the geographic terms
• Use the advance search to limit results to a specific historical time period 
• Watch the short video below for how to do this and for more tips - 

This video explains how to recognize scholarly sources in History, and how to use LibrarySearch to find them.

Recognising and finding scholarly sources 10:00 min

Skip straight to using MRU LibrarySearch: 3:33

- MRU guide to Chicago style for assignments in History

- More Chicago citation tools