HIST 112 - World History Since 1450
Library Research Guide
Encyclopedias and Historical Companions
Trying to understand the basic facts and context of your historical event or person?
Look for books, like encyclopedias, or journal articles written for students or a researcher exploring new content and needing an overview of the existing scholarship. These works discuss themes, changes in commonly held beliefs, and seminal (commonly referenced) works.
Books
Locate books, such as encyclopedias, that provide an over of historical events or people, in Search It in a couple of ways:
1. Locate titles by searching for:
2. Search for your topic and one of the terms: encyclopedia, companion, handbook . You may need to broaden your topic to a time period or concept, like: genocide instead of the Holocaust or Rwanda.
Below are a sample of titles relevant to World History.
A Companion to International History 1900-2001 by ISBN: 1281069132Publication Date: 2008-01-01A comprehensive overview of the most important international events, movements, and controversies of the 20th century...Addresses a broad range of topics, including diplomacy of wartime and peacemaking, the cold war era and the "new world order," the end of European empires, the rise of nationalism in the Third World, globalization, and terrorism
A Companion to the French Revolution by ISBN: 1283644533Publication Date: 2012-01-01"A Companion to the French Revolution" comprises twenty-nine newly-written essays reassessing the origins, development, and impact of this great turning-point in modern history. Examines the origins, development and impact of the French Revolution Features original contributions from leading historians, including six essays translated from French.Presents a wide-ranging overview of current historical debates on the revolution and future directions in scholarshipGives equally thorough treatment to both causes and outcomes of the French Revolution
A Companion to World War II by ISBN: 9781118325056Publication Date: 2012A Companion to World War II brings together a series of fresh academic perspectives on World War II, exploring the many cultural, social, and political contexts of the war.
Encyclopedia of Modern Ethnic Conflicts by ISBN: 9780313313813Publication Date: 2003This book focuses on 38 ethnic conflicts. Each surveyed conflict is presented with a timeline and an extensive essay that covers the conflict's details, historical background, management, and significance.
Journal Articles
Once you understand your historical event or person, search for scholarly journal articles for more details or to focus on a more specific event or person. You will need to try several searches with different search terms.
For instance:
Rwanda AND genocide AND women
Rwanda AND Tutsi AND 1994
- History CompassThis peer-reviewed journal publishes articles that present new research within the context of the existing scholarly conversation. Essentially, all articles include an historiography.
Book Reviews
Book reviews help gauge how other historians receive a new book. Typically, a book review will highlight the contributions to existing scholarship and identify any "bad history."
If your search results are filled with a lot of articles with the same title, you may be seeing book reviews instead of research-based articles.
You can remove book reviews in most databases by limiting your search results to Articles or Academic Articles (the exact terms will vary in different databases.)
Searching for items on a topic in K-State Libraries
Use Search It, the search box on the Libraries' home page to find books, maps, and other items in K-State Libraries' collections.
You can search by:
- author/creator
- title
- topic
- Search It
Search It enables simultaneous searching of information about K-State Libraries' physical and online collections and about articles and other sources from hundreds of databases, journal publishers, and organizations.
Advanced Search
Use Search It's Advanced Search for more control over your search.
The link to the Advanced Search appears below the Search Box on the Libraries' home page.
1. Enter keywords in Search It's search box.
2. Click K-State Libraries only option to search for items owned by K-State Libraries.
3. Item record shows if an item is available and where it is shelved. If it is not available because it is checked out or missing, you may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.
4. Virtual Browse at the bottom of the record shows items shelved nearby the item you found. They have similar call numbers, so will usually be about a similar topic.
Beyond K-State Libraries
Didn't find what you needed?
After you've searched in Search It. Look on the left side of the results page for the heading, "External Search."
Two options expand your research beyond K-State Libraries' collections.
- Worldcat -- searches for your keywords, title, or author in libraries from around the world.
- Google Scholar -- search for your keywords, title, or author in the Google Scholar database
Both offer the option to request a title or source from K-State Libraries.
