INTRODUCTION

The battle analysis assignment involves your interpretation of a specific battle.  Sometimes you can pick any Navy or Marine Corps battle from any time period, and sometimes you are limited to a range of years, such as the twentieth century. 

In general, you are expected to explain why the battle was fought, the context for it, the forces and leadership on each side, the weapons and personnel involved, how the battle progressed and ended, and the significance of it.  You also should describe what officers today can learn from this battle.

Nimitz Library purchases and collects much of the published literature on American wars and battles, including large historical primary source document collections.  You should be able to find a variety of material on your battle.

CHOOSING YOUR BATTLE

A good way to start to get ideas for a battle to analyze is to browse through some Reference books on U.S. military history or wars.  These books give brief overviews of topics pertaining to that war.  Click here to link to a list of relevant Reference books.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

It is always helpful to get background information on your battle and the war in which it was fought.  This allows you to have a more complete picture on the context of the battle.  In addition to a general overview, this step allows you to verify the important details you need to proceed.

For example, before you actually start doing research, you should be able to identify the following about your battle:

• The critical players -- who were the opponents, what units or ships were involved, who were the leaders
• Titles and positions -- verify spelling, ranks, and positions of the admirals and generals or civilians who had decision-making power
• Exact dates -- finding articles or documents in big files is much easier if you remember the specific dates, since many collections are arranged chronologically
• Sequence of what happened -- you should have a sense of how the battle progressed and what the outcome was
• Location -- for most battles, geography is critical and you should have one or more maps to understand how it came to be we were fighting there

An easy way to read this background information is by going back to the Reference collection and consulting the background sources on battles or wars.  Click here to review the list of possible titles.

STARTING YOUR RESEARCH WITH BOOKS

One obvious place to start your research is by using our Library Catalog.  The catalog lists the books, documents, and audiovisual materials in our collection.  We have many books on each war, and many individual battles have entire books written about them.

The best way to search for a battle is enter the name as a Keyword search (for example, Battle of Lake Erie or just list the main words, Battle Lake Erie).  You should retrieve a list of books with the exact phrase or all of the words you enter since the computer will "and" the words together.  This search also will identify chapters of some books.

When you select a title that sounds useful, look at the full record and notice the Subject line.  For our example, this battle as a Subject search is listed as Lake Erie, Battle of, 1813.  The date is used to differentiate battles with the same name.  You can click on the subject headings to find additional relevant hits, such as books on the ships at Lake Erie or participants..

FINDING SCHOLARLY JOURNAL ARTICLES

Once you have checked out some books on your battle, you’ll need to look for other kinds of information.  An excellent way to do this is to search for journal articles, which are often focused on a specific aspect of the battle.

Since historical topics are continually written about, articles can appear at any time after the event.  Recent scholarly journal articles can be identified by searching the databases which pertain to history.  Click here to link to a list of possible databases.  Many of the articles will be available electronically. 

However, some databases only tell you the citation or provide a summary of the article.  To find the full article for those, print out the screen or make a note of the exact reference.  We own many history titles in print, and you can read, scan or photocopy the article in the Library.  If you find a reference to an article not available in any form in the Library, let a librarian know and we’ll try to obtain a copy of the article for you another way.

FINDING ARTICLES FROM THE DATE OF YOUR BATTLE

Generally, it takes another search to find old journal articles from the date of your battle.  We own many periodicals dating back to the 18^th century, but only a few are available electronically in Nimitz.  The indexes to the contents of the journals are also in print form, so ask a librarian to help you look. Click here to see a list of 18^th and 19^th periodicals in Nimitz and if they are indexed or electronically available.

FINDING NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ON YOUR BATTLE

Remember that newspapers from the date of the battle provide the story told to people just after the battle happened.  We own many old newspapers, including a number from colonial times, so any battle you choose should be covered in some newspaper.  Click here for a list of 18^th and 19^th century newspapers.  Since you know the exact date of your battle, you can often go straight to the newspaper for the next day or so and find the article.  Newspapers are permanently retained on microfilm and there is no cost to print out a copy from the film.  For electronic access to newspaper articles, try the New York Times Historical File from 1851 through 2004 or the Times Digital Archive, for the British paper from 1785 through 1985.

USING BIBLIOGRAPHIES TO IDENTIFY SOURCES

Scanning an already published bibliography can be a quick way to see a list of sources someone else used on your topic.  It can be a shortcut because if you find enough appropriate sources listed, you may not need to check as many separate indices yourself.

Scholarly books almost always contain bibliographies because historians document their writing and often have long bibliographies.  So look in the back of all the books you use to see what sources those authors cite.

In addition there are electronic and printed bibliographies on many subjects, including wars and battles.  Click here for a link to a list of possible bibliographies.

PRIMARY SOURCES

Consulting primary sources is critical for the best interpretation a battle or any historical event.  The Library owns many kinds of primary sources.  Click here for a link to a tip sheet on primary sources and finding them in Nimitz Library.  For a battle analysis, it would be a good idea to read an official report on it or comments by the officers in charge.  Both of those would be primary sources.

The Special Collections and Archives Division of the Library contains a lot of unique items and many primary sources.  Since their material is not yet completely listed in the library catalog, you might want to go ask what they have on your battle or call them at x36912.

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

As you review all the possible sources you have acquired, re-read the assignment guidelines in the course syllabus to make sure you include all the aspects specified.  Ask you professor if you have questions about completing the paper.

Always document and properly cite the sources you use.  Use the style manual recommended in your syllabus.  You can access the full-text style manuals from our Citing Your Sources page.

Ask a librarian for assistance at any time, or contact the History Librarian.

Return to History Tip Sheets Page.

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URL: http://www.usna.edu/Library/History/Battle.html
Last updated: 20 May 2008