 Background Resources—These books may help you choose a topic or provide overview information. Reading a background summary is a good way to start a research project.
Library Catalog—Use the Library Catalog to find books, audiovisuals or microform collections on your topic. Remember these tips.
Scholarly Journals —Search databases and indexes to identify magazine and journal articles, or to find documents in full-text collections. With articles, often you can retrieve them electronically from the database. If not, it's important to check both the Library Catalog and the Electronic Journals page because the article you want may be available another way.
Older Magazines and Journals—The Library has a large magazine and journal collection, including several titles that date back into the 1700's, so you should be able to find coverage from the date of your event. Check the list of 18th and 19th century magazines and journals.
In particular, a couple of magazines which often have good articles on naval history topics are United States Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval History, and Marine Corps Gazette. The United States Naval Institute Proceedings is electronically available only since 1997, but in print on the second deck, goes back to 1874. More Information.
Newspapers—Many old newspapers in Nimitz Library are on microfilm, and some date back to colonial times. Check the list of 18th and 19th century newspapers. See also:
New York Times (since 1980)
New York Times Historical File (1851-2004)
Washington Post (online since 1987; on microfilm since 1877)
Times (London) (1785-1985)
Times (London) (since 1985)
The Annapolis paper,The Capital (for many years called the Evening Capital) also goes back into the 19th century and parts of it are online..
Bibliographies—A bibliography is a list of sources on a subject and consulting one can be a shortcut to identifying material on your topic. Check the bibliographies or footnotes in books or scholarly articles that you use, since this can alert you to the sources those historians used. There are also some web sites and entire books that are bibliographies, including a number on naval or military topics.
Primary Sources—It is usually a requirement to have at least one primary source for a history research paper. Besides the tip sheet linked here on finding primary sources in Nimitz Library, check Full Text Primary Source Document Collections for examples of online primary sources and the History Web Sites page. |
Special Collections and Archives--Nimitz Library's Special Collections and Archives Division has many primary sources in their original form, meaning actual letters, diaries, ships logs or photographs. They also have many very old, rare or valuable items. Special Collections and Archives is located on the Third Floor and you are encouraged to go in and ask them about your topic.
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Internet Sources --Faculty have different policies on use of the internet for naval history research, so be sure to check your syllabus or ask your professor about this. Any internet source you use must be a reliable and authoritative site and you must cite it properly. One good web site you could check is the Naval Historical Center, which is part of the Navy Department Library, in Washington, D.C.
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Citing Your Sources --It is important to carefully cite the sources you use. Check with your professor or on your syllabus to determine which style manual to use.
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Tip Sheets for Specific Assignments -- Suggestions for common HH104 assignments
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Getting Help--Let a Reference Librarian at the Reference Desk help you with any aspect of your research project, or you can contact the History Librarian, Barbara Manvel, at x36925 or manvel@usna.edu.
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Encompassing over 200 years of time, American naval history can be a challenging subject to research. All of the information you will need for your research papers cannot possibly be found in just one or two places and many of the best sources are not available online. Old print indexes, microfilm and personal narratives are just some of the intriguing materials you'll be working with and they're all available in the Library. The best approach is to use a variety of sources which you'll find if you follow the general research process and tips listed here. Be sure to talk to a Reference Librarian for additional assistance.