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U.S. History

Getting Started -- US History

If you are new to conducting research:
Consider reviewing the Starting Your Research tutorial to learn the phases and processes of doing research

Start your research in US History with these key resources:

Types of History Research: Primary VS. Secondary

Your professor may require you to find scholarly sources  popular sources, secondary sources or primary sources on your topic.    Here's a very basic guide if you need more details:

Primary Sources: Primary sources are the raw stuff of history. Examples of primary sources:

  • diaries and journals
  • documents,
  • newspaper or magazine articles,
  • statistics,
  • novels, plays, or poetry
  • reports, autobiographies, memoirs, or books written during the time of an event

Some Primary Sources are also known as popular sources.

Secondary or Scholarly Sources: 

These are the peer reviewed articles and scholarly books that historians write after they have worked with the primary sources -- and consulted other secondary articles or books.  

Historiography: Historiography is the study of how historians have interpreted historical events throughout time. The student of the historiography of the Peloponnesian War, for example, might want to compare Thucycides with colonial and revolutionary American interpretations of what Thucycides and other classical authors had to say about military might and democratic aspirations. One way of doing this comparative interpretation, is looking for bibliographies on a subject or using the keyword "historiography" in Library Search or an online scholarly database such as Historical Abstracts or America: History and Life.

Arts and Humanities Librarian

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Adam Rosenkranz
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Research, Teaching, & User Services - The Claremont Colleges Library
909 607-3986
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