Start by looking at your topic from a wide lens. As you gather research, narrow down your focus based on the amount of evidence that you find. Make a list of keywords as you read! Check out this research organizer for more help organizing your focus.
Consider searching imperialism or colonialism AND Congo, or your area of focus. Search for the name of the colonizer (Great Britiain, Belgium, etc.). Get more specific by searching for tribal names, names of important figures, key places, etc. Search for historical place names rather than present day country names.
STEP 1: Reference sources are a great place to start your research! These resources provide a broad overview of your topic (the who, what, where, when, and why). Types of material include encyclopedias, almanacs, and dictionaries.
As you learn more, continue to gather keywords you can use to search for more complex sources.
Includes the complete encyclopedia, as well as a Merriam-Webster dictionary and thesaurus.
Modern World History offers a comprehensive look at world history from the mid-15th century to the present. Thousands of subject entries, biographies, images, videos and slideshows, maps and graphs, primary sources, and timelines combine to provide a detailed and comparative view of the people, places, events, and ideas that have defined modern world history. Focused Topic Centers pull forward interesting entries, search terms, documents, and maps handpicked by our editors to help users find a starting point for their research, as well as videos and slideshow overviews to offer a visual introduction to key eras and regions. All the Infobase history databases in a collection are fully cross-searchable.
Formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library. A database of over 1,000 reference ebooks, such as encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research.
Encyclopedias to explore:
Browse the Imperialism shelf in Gale eBooks with curated encyclopedias related to Imperialism and Africa.
Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450
Encyclopedia of Invasions and Conquests by 
Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students by Recommended encyclopedia articles to get started:
STEP 2: Narrow your focus with secondary sources. These sources take a particular position, and contain an analysis of documents and material in order to support an argument. Secondary sources can be written by scholars via peer-reviewed journals, or published in newspapers and magazines written by experienced journalists.
What is a monograph? A book written by an expert (in this case, a historian) on a specific subject within their discipline. These are books you will find the library stacks.
For more, visit the library's Online Resources page. Use the filters to limit to secondary sources in history. For help understanding and skimming a scholarly source, use this checklist and take notes.
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Tips for searching for scholarly articles:
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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.
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.
Includes access to over 50,000 academic ebook titles on across a range of disciplines.
Suggested titles to get started:
For more, search for your keywords in the library catalog or eBook Central. Search for imperialism AND your country (i.e. imperialism AND Congo). Consider historical names for the regions your are researching - for example, "Belgian Congo".
Colonialism in the Congo Basin, 1880-1940 by 
Lord Leverhulme's Ghosts by 
Kongo in the Age of Empire, 1860-1913 by 
The European Colonial Empires by STEP 3: Primary sources the historical evidence! They can include scientific research, statistics, studies, documents (newspapers, interviews, diary entries), artifacts, or images that are of the time period you are studying. These require more advanced knowledge of the subject area to understand context.
Larger collections with a wide range of material:
Modern World History offers a comprehensive look at world history from the mid-15th century to the present. Thousands of subject entries, biographies, images, videos and slideshows, maps and graphs, primary sources, and timelines combine to provide a detailed and comparative view of the people, places, events, and ideas that have defined modern world history. Focused Topic Centers pull forward interesting entries, search terms, documents, and maps handpicked by our editors to help users find a starting point for their research, as well as videos and slideshow overviews to offer a visual introduction to key eras and regions. All the Infobase history databases in a collection are fully cross-searchable.
Jstor Images 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.
Search over 200 years of this invaluable historical source widely considered to be the world's "newspaper of record."
Africa Focus:
The Congo Free State and the New Imperialism by 
