History Research Guide:Books

Here are several strategies you can use to find books that can be used as primary sources:

1) Use the bibliographies in your secondary sources to identify primary sources such as published memoirs or letters. Search the library's online catalog by the title or author to find the source..

2) Library catalogers assign specific terms to certain types of primary sources. You can use these terms to quickly identify books that contain primary sources on your topic. Some of these terms are:

• personal narratives
• diaries
• correspondence
• interviews
• sources (when used with a subject)
• archives (when used with a person)

3) Use an author search to find books written by people who were key participants in the events you are researching.

4) Using these strategies, search the library's catalog.

5) Extend your search beyond our library by using Worldcat and interlibrary loan.

Books that can be used as primary sources might include:

• books written during the period for your topic (i.e., during the Russian Revolution)
• books written by participants
• published collections of correspondence and other personal writings
• memoirs
• collections of primary source material

Some primary source books may be available as ebooks as well.