Research Guides: Wars Involving the U.S.: Home

Research Librarian

Contact:

936-294-1520
kclaunch@shsu.edu
Library (NGL) Room 223G

Subjects: Geography, Government Documents, History, Integrated Studies (CHSS), Military Science

Books in the Thomason Room

Find books and Primary Sources located in the Thomason Room Special Collections department.

The Thomason Room is located on the 4th floor of the library. Its hours are 8:00am - 5:00pm, Monday - Friday (or by appointment). All students are welcome to visit the Thomason Room.

You can speak with the staff in the Thomason Room by heading upstairs to see them, or by calling 936-294-1619.

Useful Tools

Chicago Manual of Style Online

SHSU Writing Center Handouts
Many handouts on structuring your essays, editing your writing, and citing your sources.

EndNote Web
Introduction & Instructions; Create an account off-campus with PC.

EndNote Web is a Web-based bibliography and database manager that allows users to create their own personal database by importing references from text files or online databases. They can use these references in writing their papers and automatically format the paper and the bibliography in seconds. EndNote Web is a free version of EndNote.

3 Tip in 3 Minutes: History Research Video Series
These short video tutorials, created by the SHSU History Librarian, will teach you tricks to become more efficient and effective in your History research.
Careers, Grad Studies, and Opportunities in History
Are you planning graduate work or a career in History? Take a look at this guide for information on grad schools, awards, job listings, and MORE!

Try using Reference Books to find a basic overview and facts about a person, event, or concept. You'll get more accurate, authoritative information. Plus, encyclopedia entries often include citations for other books and articles to help jump-start your research!

Databases for Secondary Source Articles

How to Setup Your Search

Use Advanced Search.
Check the box for "Articles" (unless you are specifically searching for book reviews or 17th-19th century British pamphlets).
If you want results from a particular time period (such as the 1940s), use the Date Range boxes to enter a start and end year.
Select "English" as the language (unless you do fluently read another of the languages listed).
Check the boxes for approximately 1 to 4 subject areas from the list provided. This really does help cut down on irrelevant results.
- History is a given, and may be the only one you need.
- Other relevant subjects will depend on what you are researching.

Start with a specific, focused search and work out towards a more general search when necessary. Often you will drown in results if you try to start with a general search.
Put phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "Civil War".
Use the language of the time period of the documents that you hope to find. An article written in 1902 may use very different language than an article written in 2002, and you may not find both of those documents with the same search terms. Give some thought to what you hope to find, and try to structure your search (or a series of multiple searches) accordingly.

Search with short, simple words and phrases. Use the smallest pieces, not whole sentences.
Try different versions of your search using synonyms or other ways of describing a topic.
- Example: American Revolution, Revolutionary War, America's War of Independence, ...
Put quotation marks around phrases (2 or more words that you want to find in a specific order).
Connect various words and phrases with AND, OR, and NOT.
- AND = less results. Example: causes AND economic
- OR = more results (often use with synonyms). Example: Britain OR "Great Britain" OR England
- NOT = exclude ideas for less results. Example: causes NOT slavery

To find more primary sources in the library's book collection, try these search strategies on the catalog's Advanced Search page:

1. Enter some words to describe your topic in the keyword row. In the subject row, enter the word "sources".

2. Enter some words to describe your topic in the keyword row. In the subject row, enter a word such as "correspondence", "diaries", or "personal narratives".

3. Enter some words to describe your topic in the keyword row. In the next row, change the first box to also say keyword, and enter the phrase "documents OR documentary" in that second search box.

4. For primary sources written by a certain person, click Browse on the right side of the search page. Enter the person's name backwards, like "Washington George" and click subject. In the list of subject headings that appear, look for headings that end with words such as "correspondence", "diaries", "notebooks sketchbooks etc.", "manuscripts", or "oratory."

Printed Primary Sources

To find primary sources in the Library's book collection, try these search strategies on the catalog's Advanced Search page:

1. Enter some words to describe your topic in the keyword row. In the subject row, enter the word "sources".

2. Enter some words to describe your topic in the keyword row. In the subject row, enter a word such as "correspondence", "diaries", or "personal narratives".