Often, the best work arises from close engagement with a primary source. As you read, you'll think of questions or begin to shape an argument. The hard part is to find a primary source that addresses the broad general area of interest. Here are some strategies for finding primary sources:
If you can't read the language of the country you are researching, your best options are:
1. Use British or American foreign relations documents:
2. Use the English-language mass media:
Finding world newspapers at Princeton
Periodicals
Television, radio and documentary film
Travel: literature and guidebooks
Africa
Canadian history
Latin American & Iberian Primary Sources
Middle East
Russia, the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia
South and East Asia
History of science, technology & medicine
Religion
History of women, gender & sexuality
Human rights: primary sources
Historical statistics
Public opinion polls for historians
Finding world newspapers at Princeton
Periodicals
Television, radio and documentary film
Travel: literature and guidebooks
Medieval & early modern Britain (to 1800)
Modern Britain
Medieval and early modern Europe
Modern Europe
British Parliamentary Papers
Finding British government documents at Princeton
Legal research for historians: Great Britain
Historical statistics
Public opinion polls for historians
History of science, technology & medicine
Religion
History of women, gender & sexuality
Finding U.S. newspapers at Princeton
Periodicals
Television, radio and documentary film
Travel: literature and guidebooks
American History to 1900
Twentieth-century U.S. foreign affairs
Twentieth-century U.S. society and politics
U.S. economic, business and labor history
U.S. presidential papers
Papers of American individuals & families
World War II
Vietnam War: primary sources
Legal research for historians: United States
U.S. Department of State records: for historians
Native American history
African American Studies
History of women, gender & sexuality
Historical statistics
Public opinion polls for historians
Historical U.S. census