You may choose a topic related to 20th United States history. With such a broad scope, how can you identify something you want to research?
Start by asking yourself what are you interested in; what are your personal interests and passions, and how might they intersect with a historical topic? Use this organizer to help clarify your thinking.
After settling on a topic, the most vital part of your paper is identifying a research question. This step is vital to your process, and will be the primary driver for your research. Explore this document for help developing a clear and answerable question.
Start by understanding the basics of your topic. As you read, take notes: who are the key people, places, themes? What is about your topic piques your curiousity that you would want to further investigate? Use this organizer to analyze at least two academic reference articles from the resources listed below.
Includes the complete encyclopedia, as well as a Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus.
Exploring more than 500 years of the African-American experience, African-American History Online offers many exciting features, including more than 85 historical videos that bring history to life. The extensively hyperlinked entries in this comprehensive database include subject entries, primary sources, images and videos, general and topic-specific timelines, biographies, maps and charts, and more. Culled from many of Facts On File's critically acclaimed print titles, this database provides students and researchers with a wealth of quality, authoritative content.
American History Online spans more than 500 years of political, military, social, and cultural history. Thousands of biographies, subject entries, timeline entries, primary source documents, maps, and images cover the entire spectrum of the American experience.
Formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library. A database of over 1,000 reference ebooks, such as encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Covers both U.S. history, with full-text articles and primary sources, as well as access to the abstracts and citations in the premier U.S. historical bibliography, America: History & Life.
Can I use wikipedia?
Yes! If you're unsure where to begin, wikipedia can be an excellent source for basic information (important people, places, dates, etc.). Check the references at the bottom of each article to find additional sources, including primary documents.
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Be intentional about your keywords - who are the important figures, or events? How could you distill your topic into the most crucial words or phrases? Use the Advanced Search option whenever possible to join together keywords and key phrases. Use quotation marks around phrases to ensure all words appear together in order. Such as "dollar diplomacy" Add search filters - limit to scholarly journal articles, book chapters (avoid book reviews!) |
To explore additional resources, visit our Online Resources A to Z.
Academic Journals and eBooks:
This full-text database contains a broad range of scholarly journals in the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The JSTOR mission is unique in that it creates a permanent, digitized archive of the selected titles.
A very large collection of periodicals covering a broad range of subject areas. ProQuest includes four basic databases: Platinum Periodicals, ProQuest Newspapers, Reference, and The Historical New York Times. The New York Times collection is complete back to 1851.
A comprehensive selection of prestigious humanities and social sciences journals to support a core liberal arts curriculum at any academic institution. Every journal is heavily indexed and peer-reviewed, with critically acclaimed articles by the most respected scholars in their fields.
Academic Search Engines:
Google Scholar is a free search engine that allows users to search for academic content (such academic papers, dissertations, theses, and case law) across the web, including content owned by Bunn Library. Results with full-text access will have a link in the column to the left of the title.
Access Google Scholar using the link provided below to ensure that you will retrieve full-text results from Bunn Library databases, or add The Lawrenceville School to "My Library" section of your user profile. For help or questions regarding Google Scholar, please reach out to Ms. Sinai at asinai@lawrenceville.org.
Books and eBooks:
Includes access to over 50,000 academic ebook titles on across a range of disciplines.
Search the Bunn Library catalog to view physical items available at the library (such as books, DVDs, games, and equipment), as well as ebooks and audiobooks.
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To find a book, search the Bunn Library Catalog. Use the General Keyword search to broaden your results. For a narrower focus, search the catalog by Subject Keyword using the drop-down menu. Books in the library are arranged according to their subject matter. To find books in the stacks, look at the call number:
Have a useful book in hand?
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Primary Source Collections via Bunn Library:
The collections linked below have a wide scope; use your search terms and filters to narrow your results to those that fit within your proposed topic.
A primary source collection sourced from The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Contains numerous records in census data, vital records, directories, family histories, military records, photos, and more. It’s an unprecedented online collection of archival materials from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and more.
American History Online spans more than 500 years of political, military, social, and cultural history. Thousands of biographies, subject entries, timeline entries, primary source documents, maps, and images cover the entire spectrum of the American experience.
Exploring more than 500 years of the African-American experience, African-American History Online offers many exciting features, including more than 85 historical videos that bring history to life. The extensively hyperlinked entries in this comprehensive database include subject entries, primary sources, images and videos, general and topic-specific timelines, biographies, maps and charts, and more. Culled from many of Facts On File's critically acclaimed print titles, this database provides students and researchers with a wealth of quality, authoritative content.
Newspaper and Periodical Archives:
Focusing predominantly on Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina, this resource presents multiple aspects of the African American community through pamphlets, newspapers and periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports and in-depth oral histories, revealing the prevalent challenges of racism, discrimination and integration, and a unique African American culture and identity.
Search and browse hundreds of U.S. newspapers published from 1690 through the 20th Century, including titles from all 50 present states.
Periodicals published between 1740 and 1940, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals.
From Black-owned newspapers to mainstream publications, this primary source collection offers an expansive window into centuries of African American history, culture and daily life — as well as the ways the dominant culture has portrayed and perceived people of African descent.
Founded in 1865, The Nation is America's oldest continuously published weekly magazine. The archive includes the full run of the paper from that time. The Nation is frequently quoted and referred to in works of historical analysis. In the contemporary period, it is characterized by a liberal point of view.
NYT Historical edition covers the newspaper from 1851-2016. For more recent articles try New York Times (ProQuest Central), which covers June 1, 1980-Present. For today's news, visit the digital New York Times.
Images, Art, & Related Information:
Artstor contains over 1.8 million digital images in the arts, architecture, the humanities and science from outstanding international museums, photographers, libraries, scholars, and photo archives.
Bridgeman Education is a complete visual resource offering over 1,000,000 digital images of art, history and culture from global museums, galleries, private collections and contemporary artists all copyright cleared for educational use.
Digital Public Library of America:
Think of DPLA as a hub for archival collections throughout the United States. Search for your own keywords, or browse the curated resources available through the platform.
Library of Congress:
National Archives:
Further Recommended Resources from the Web:
This is not an exhaustive list. Considering your topic, what kinds of collections might be most useful to your research? Is there a museum or cultural institution that may have archival collections relevant to your research?
Image citations:
Fernandez, Orlando, photographer. In front of 170 W 130 St., March on Washington, l to r Bayard Rustin, Deputy Director, Cleveland Robinson, Chairman of Administrative Committee / World Telegram & Sun photo by O.
Fernandez. Washington D.C. New York, 1963. August 7. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003671269/.
Fischer, Roger A., “Stonewall GLBT button,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/2cb85485461ab86890b880f51be7b915.
Gottlieb, William P. Portrait of Louis Armstrong, Between 1938 and 1948. United States, 1938. , Monographic. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/gottlieb.09611/.
Lange, Dorothea, photographer. Oakland, Calif., Mar. A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 401 - 403 Eighth and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, will be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war. Oakland California, 1942. Mar. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004665381/.
Not Identified, and Robert Hemmig. Group of children posing under sign that reads "U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Security Administration Farm Workers Community". California El Rio, 1941. El Rio, California. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000400/.
