Most historians publish their work in books. So, for many topics in history, your best starting point is a good recent scholarly book. The easiest way to find that book is to ask someone else who is knowledgeable about your topic -- for example, your junior seminar instructor or spring JP advisor. But a thorough search of the library catalog is also essential. Here are some tips on finding books about historical topics in the Princeton University Library Catalog.
- Start by searching on a term you think will be used in the title or description of a book (e.g., "Great War")
- Once you identify a book you think will be useful, click on its title to see the full description. At the bottom are "subject headings." Click on the appropriate ones to display other books on the same topic (you'll see the official subject heading is "World War, 1914-1918")
- Use the word "history" as part of a keyword search with other terms (e.g., Cotton trade and History).
- To find material about a person, an government agency, or an organization, search for it as a subject
- You can limit your search results to English-language materials, by clicking on the Language facet to the left
- Didn't find enough? Expand your search in Worldcat to identify items not held by Princeton, then use Borrow Direct or Interlibrary loan to get the books you discover there.
Assessing what you find -- is this book worth your time?
- Who is the author? Is he/she associated with an academic institution?
- Who is the publisher? Most good history books are published by academic presses, e.g. Princeton University Press or Oxford University Press. An incomplete list of academic press is found here.
- When was the book published? Your first choice will probably be a book published in the last ten years or so, because a recent book will refer to all the previous work on your topic. But some older books are still very valuable, so do not worry if the most recent book you can find on your topic was published long ago.
- Does the book include the scholarly apparatus that will enable you to verify the author's work? Look for footnotes or endnotes plus a bibliography. A book with no notes or bibliography will not be helpful to you at this stage of your research.
Once you have a book in hand, read it. Alas, there are no shortcuts to this part of the research process.
