Research Resources

Research is a fundamental skill that is often overlooked. I started teaching Research Bootcamps, and then expanding to a Historical Thinking, Research, and Writing Bootcamp, because solid research knowledge and skills makes every assignment and project easier and more efficient, provides credible evidence and critical thought to support conclusions, and makes the quality of writing or project better.

This resource list comes from the Appendix of the History Odyssey Guide to Historical Thinking, Research, and Writing, which I am currently finishing for Pandia Press Publishing. It will be available later this year, combining and expanding on both my bootcamps and my years of experience teaching History and the Humanities.

The list below will be regularly updated as new resources emerge.

Student Resources

The resources below are consistent, credible, useful, and are available online. They are easy to find and accessible for most students to use in their research and writing assignments. While there is a focus on history, many of the resources below can be used for a variety of subjects.

Writing

Dayla Learning Free Writing Resources https://daylalearning.com/learner-writing-resources/

The Perdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) https://owl.purdue.edu/

Research

Sweet Search History (history search engine for students) https://history.sweetsearch.com/

Internet Archive https://archive.org/

Related Words (to find related concepts or keywords to a topic) https://relatedwords.org/

Phrase Thesaurus https://www.phrases.org.uk/phrase-thesaurus/search/index.html

One Look (reverse dictionary, related term generator) https://www.onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml

Visuwords (visual dictionary, thesaurus, and interactive lexicon) https://visuwords.com/

Common Sense: Google Search Tips https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/5-must-have-google-search-tips-for-students

Common Sense: Reliable and Credible Sources https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/most-reliable-and-credible-sources-for-students

The Chart (Media Bias) https://www.adfontesmedia.com/the-chart-version-3-0-what-exactly-are-we-reading/

Media Bias/Fact Check Media Bias/Fact Check News

All Sides Media Bias Chart https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart

Harvard Library Online Database Search https://library.harvard.edu/services-tools/database-search

WorldCat (International library search) https://www.worldcat.org/

Specialized/Vertical Search Engines

Google Scholar: a search engine dedicated to scholarly resources. (https://scholar.google.com/)

Google Images: specialized search for images. (https://images.google.com/).

Google Patents: for finding patents and concept drawings. (https://patents.google.com/)

Google News: for finding news content from many different sources. You can also put an alert on topics that interest you, so that you will be notified about any new related content. (https://news.google.com/)

Google Trends: an interesting search engine that measures and compares search terms. Very helpful in research about modern history and current events. (https://trends.google.com/)

Google Books: good place to source print and e-books, especially those available for free. (https://books.google.com/)

Google Videos: like Google News, a terrific place to find content from multiple, diverse sources. (https://www.google.com/videohp)

Google Custom Search Engine: Google also offers the ability to create your own, individualized search engine, creating exactly the searches you want. https://programmablesearchengine.google.com/about/

Primary Sources

UC Berkeley Library: Finding Historical Primary Sources https://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/subject-guide/163-Finding-Historical-Primary-Sources

Library of Congress Collection https://www.loc.gov/collections/

Library of Congress “Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers” https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

National Archives Primary Source Database https://www.archives.gov/education/research/primary-sources

National Archives: Primary Source Document Database https://www.docsteach.org/documents

National Archives 100 Milestone Documents https://www.ourdocuments.gov/content.php?flash=true&page=milestone

George Mason University: History Matters “Many Pasts” (primary source documents) http://historymatters.gmu.edu/browse/manypasts/%3Cbr%20/%3E

Smithsonian Learning Lab Database https://learninglab.si.edu/

National Historical GIS (data tables and maps) https://www.nhgis.org/

Life Magazine Photo Archive http://images.google.com/hosted/life

JSTOR Primary Source Library https://about.jstor.org/librarians/primary-sources/

The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy (documents organized by time period) (Yale Law School) https://avalon.law.yale.edu/

Fordham University Sourcebook (documents organized by time period) https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/modsbookfull.asp

Spartacus Educational (encyclopedia entries that have direct links to primary sources) https://spartacus-educational.com/

Project Gutenberg (public domain literature) https://www.gutenberg.org/

The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History: History Resources: Spotlight on Primary Sources Search Database https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources-search?tid_2=47298

Teaching American History: Primary Source Documents https://teachingamericanhistory.org/category/primary-source-documents/

Teaching American History: Documents by Era https://teachingamericanhistory.org/documents/era/?fbclid=IwAR1Sv1879Sf4wv7OrQRPs1SN39cGToKTXOBhZV9F8YM7e6j1o1974WfVc_c

National Humanities Center: America In Class (Primary Source Collection) https://americainclass.org/primary-sources/

NGO (especially for statistics and data)

United Nations Statistical Database https://data.un.org/

U.S. Government Services and Information USA.gov

Educator Resources

The books and sites below were referenced for research and consistency and focus specifically on Historical Thinking, Research, and Writing. Some are educator resources and some are college-level texts, and would not be appropriate for students on the younger end of the targeted age range. More advanced high school-aged students may find some of them useful as extra reference and a deeper exploration of some topics in preparation for dual enrollment or college-level work.

Online Resources

American History Association: Historical Thinking Skills https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/the-history-of-the-americas/the-conquest-of-mexico/for-teachers/setting-up-the-project/historical-thinking-skills

Standford History Education Group (SHEG): Reading Like a Historian https://sheg.stanford.edu/list-reading-historian-lessons

NEH Edsitement Lesson Plans (history/humanities lessons with primary sources built in) https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plans

Historical Scene Investigation (13 sets of documents throughout different time periods of American History) https://hsi.wm.edu/

Historical Thinking Matters (lesson plans and primary sources on four topics: The Spanish American War., the Scopes Trial, Social Security, and Rosa Parks http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/teachers/

The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History: History Resources https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources

Library of Congress: getting Started with primary Sources https://www.loc.gov/programs/teachers/getting-started-with-primary-sources/

Library of Congress Primary Source Sets (classroom materials) https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/?fa=partof_type:primary+source+set

Common Sense Education: News Literacy Resources List https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/news-literacy-resources-for-classrooms

Newseum Ed https://newseumed.org/classes-training

Facing History: Primary Source Collections https://www.facinghistory.org/our-work/common-core/primary-source-collections

National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve (essays on three historical themes with primary sources embedded) http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/tserve.htm

Teaching Hard History Text Library https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/texts/hard-history/slavery

Books

Benjamin, Jules R. A Student’s Guide to History. Boston MA, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2019.

Breisach, Ernst. Historiography: Ancient, Medieval and Modern. Chicago, IL, The University of Chicago Press, 2007

Brundage, Anthony. Going to the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing. Hoboken NJ, John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2018.

Presnell, Jenny L. The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students. New York NY, Oxford University Press, 2019.

Rampolla, Mary Lynn. A Pocket Guide to Writing in History. Boston MA, Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2018.

Woolf, Daniel. A Concise History of History: Global Historiography from Antiquity to the Present. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press, 2019.