Resources for History Graduate Students

History is one of the oldest disciplines for human inquiry because of its usefulness and also because it's just awesome. The practice of history, however, requires significant dedication and consideration as it is both a science and an art. To grossly oversimplify, the science of history is in its use of evidence to draw conclusions and the art of history is in the interpretation of historical evidence. 

To start studying history, there are several important steps to take - and your library can assist in almost every one. To begin, you've got to:

• Write out your historical question 
• Break down that question into its components: date(s), place(s), people(s), topic(s) [Background & Bibliography]
• Discover whether any secondary material already exists on your subject as published academic material or theses/dissertations [Finding Books & Articles]
• Begin looking into available primary sources to address your question [see method and geographic guides]
• Track all of the material through bibliographic managers in order to build citations later on [Writing & Citing]
• Take organized notes on your reading

This guide is designed to assist you with each of those components. This is, however, a general guide. Visit our subject guides [Databases by Subject] and make an appointment with your history liaison to find out what materials are available on your, specific topic [More Help]​.