Electronic Resources for History Majors  Tags: history  

The Mack Library offers many databases to help history majors with their research. These databases provide access to five types of information: biographies, book reviews, journal articles, dissertations, general reference works. The resources for biographies will give you brief overviews or in-depth essays about the lives of historical figures. They can also introduce you to the work of historians, so that you know the background of authors. The book review indexes will point you to reviews that evaluate works of history, so that you know how a book has been received by the scholarly community. Journal articles contain information about historical topics not covered in books, or they give detailed information about a topic that a book on the subject may not discuss. Dissertations contain detailed scholarship by doctoral students on topics for which there might not yet be books or journal articles. General reference works overview historical periods and events, providing an introduction to the period or region being studied.

This guide mentions only subscription databases, that is, databases that the Mack Library pays for to provide to you. In general, these sources are more authoritative, accurate, and comprehensive than anything you will find available for free online. Of course, the Internet contains many other sources that might be useful.

All the databases mentioned in this guide are available from the Mack Library's website. You can find them listed alphabetically or topically. The databases can be used anywhere on campus, or they can be accessed from home by asking a library worker for a password.