Putnam Library | » Mr. Polebaum’s HHC Final Project

Mr. Polebaum’s HHC Final Project

General Tips for Research:

Make sure to read the information below each source about what it’s good for and any tips we have.
When you are recording a page or article from a database, DO NOT COPY THE URL. You will NOT be able to get back to your page using that URL. Instead, find where the database allows you to copy the citation or permanent link to the page. If you can’t find that, write down the name of the database and the name of the article or page you are using.
Remember: not every resource will have information about every topic. If you run a search and don’t get results don’t give up! Try a different database! Or reach out to a librarian!
If you have any questions, please sign up to meet with a librarian!

Sign up for a meeting with a librarian:

Meet with Ms. Sokoll
Meet with Ms. Steim
Meet with Ms. Tragert

How to use this pathfinder:

Library Databases:

What is a database? Databases are collections of sources created by experts on a topic. The library provides these databases for students as places to find reliable, trustworthy sources.

Reference Databases

Reference materials are designed to be your first stop in the research process. Reference materials will give you a broad overview or a summary of a specific topic or theme, often including things like definitions, biographies, and chronologies of significant events. They will also give you the most widely accepted version of facts and keywords or terms. Example of reference sources are encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, and atlases.

History Study Center

Good for: Reference articles – located under Maps & Reference
Tips: Select “Maps & Reference” from the drop-down instead of “All content”.

World History In Context

Good for: All types of sources including reference articles.
Tips: when you run a search, the top of the results page will have hyperlinks where you can click to get specific types of resources (reference, biography, etc.)

High School in Context

Good for: All types of sources including reference articles.
Tips: when you run a search, the top of the results page will have hyperlinks where you can click to get specific types of resources (reference, biography, etc.)

WORLD HISTORY: THE MODERN ERA

Good for: Reference articles (background information), timelines, quotes and more.
Tips: when you run a search, each result that comes up will have the type of resource it is listed under the title.

Primary Sources:

Primary sources are artifacts that were created during the time that is being studied. Some examples include letters, diaries, photos or videos, newspaper or magazine articles, interviews, speeches, oral histories and government documents.

We use primary sources both to get and to give a more complete view of what people were thinking, feeling, and experiencing at the time that we are studying. We have a few places on our website with primary sources that might be useful for your project but you will also need to search beyond our databases.

Remember that the language or vocabulary used in historical eras could be different than the language we use today. When you run your search, try using the words or phrases that would have been used to talk about your topic at the time.

When searching for primary sources beyond our databases it can be helpful to add one of the following keywords: “documents”, “sources”, “narrative”, “voices”, “speeches”, or “recordings”. You will need to do this for this project.