• U.S. History and Culture: Postwar America and America in the World
  2 online encyclopedias that provide overviews of key topics in postwar American history, with bibliographies and selected primary sources.
   

The library's print reference collection also houses a number of important reference works. For American history, browse the print reference collection in these areas, or ask a librarian for assistance:

• E151-183 United States - General works - encyclopedias, etc.
• E740-749 General works on the 20th century
• E813-E816 Truman's administrations
• E835-837 Eisenhower's administrations
• E841-843 Kennedy's administration
• E846-851 Johnson's administrations
• E855-861 Nixon's administrations
• E865-868 Ford's administration
• E872-875 Carter's administration
• E876-880 Reagan's administrations
• E881-884 George H. W. Bush's administration
• E885-889 Clinton's administrations
• E902-904 George W. Bush's administrations
• E907-909 Obama's administration
   

Here are some specific titles that you may find useful:

• American Eras (8 vols. - Ref. E 169.1 .A47 1979 1997)              
  
• American National Biography (Ref. E 176 .A68 1999)        
  
• Harvard Guide to American History (Ref. E 175 .A1 H27)             
• American Years: A Chronology of the United States (Ref. E 174.5 .G753 1999) 
  
• Annals of America (hundreds of primary source documents - Ref. E 173 .A793) 
         

Also check out the Middle East History and Politics research guide for more information.

• New York Times Historical
• Also at KL: Detroit News (1890-present) and London Times (1906-present) on microfilm.
• For other newspapers, search Google News archive, using advanced search.
• ARTstor: A digital library of more than one million images. Check out the American Studies Subject Guide for tips on searching the collection for relevant materials.
• VAST: Academic Video Online : a video database documenting American history (presidential speeches, TV news coverage, etc.)
• Annals of America  (Ref. E 173 .A793): hundreds of primary source documents.
• Foreign Relations of the United States - A series that provides copies of important documents in foreign relations history (also available in print in the library in the documents collection - S 1.1: - The online version is not yet complete)
• American Presidency Project (UCSB) - Searchable database of presidential documents.
• Middle East 1916-2001 - Part of the Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy (Yale University). Many other foreign policy collections available.
   

To find more primary sources:

• American Memory
• American Historical Association Archives Wiki - A searchable wiki of information on print and digital archives worldwide.
• ArchiveGrid
  
• Repositories of Primary Sources - A guide to archives and other institutions worldwide that house primary source material.
• Search the Library Catalog. Often, important primary sources are gathered together and reprinted in books. The following words and phrases in the Subject Headings of a book record may indicate that the item contains primary source material:

--Sources	--Photography
--Personal Narratives	--Interviews
--Correspondence	--Sermons
--Diaries	--Songs and music
--Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.	--Facsimiles
--Records and correspondence	--Manuscripts

 

You can use any of these terms in a Boolean Keyword search of your topic. For example: Eisenhower and correspondence.

In addition, consult Kresge Library's History Research Guide for online primary source collections, and the OU Government Documents Center for assistance in finding and using government documents such as the Congressional Record. And for help in working with primary sources, consult History Matters.

• Kresge Library catalog
  You can use the library catalog to find books, scholarly & popular journals, government documents, dvds & videos, reference materials, sheet music, and more.
• MelCat
  A statewide catalog of many of Michigan's libraries. It allows you to request books at another library be sent to Kresge Library for you.
• Use it to find items at other libraries that you can request through inter-library loan.

• America: History & Life
  The definitive index of literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Provides indexing for 1,700 journals. How to export to RefWorks. Coverage: 1964-present
  

America: History & Life
• JSTOR
  Full text of core scholarly journals from their beginning to approximately one year ago. Disciplines include botany, business, ecology, general science, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and statistics. Browsable by discipline and full-text searchable across all disciplines. Especially good for historic or classic articles in most fields. Coverage: 1665 to present. How to export to RefWorks
  
   
• Project Muse
  Project Muse provides full-text access to the content from over 400 scholarly journals in the humanities and the social sciences. How to export to RefWorks
  
   
• Academic OneFile
  A huge and highly heterogeneous multidisciplinary mix of scholarly, journalistic, practitioner and popular sources, with much direct full-text included. Use the tabs to identify scholarly, newspaper or other sources as necessary. Thanks to MeL / How to export to RefWorks Coverage: 1980-present
  

Find articles, books, etc...

An effective research strategy is to consult the reference lists and bibliographies of books and journal articles that you find; these bibliographies should help you identify other valuable materials on your topic. Your next step is to determine whether KL owns that book or journal article.

e.g.: Suppose you find the following citation in the bibliography of a book or article you're reading:
 
Bernstein, B. J. (1998). Truman and the a-bomb: Targeting noncombatants, using the bomb, and his defending the "decision." Journal of Military History, 62(3), 547-570.

Check to see if KL owns this journal (Journal of Military History) by searching Kresge Library’s Library Catalog. (Be sure to perform a Journal Title search using the title of the journal — Journal of Military History — NOT the title of the article.) If Kresge Library does not have this article, you can order a copy through Interlibrary Loan.

Ask a Librarian

• by phone at 248-370-4426
• via chat with reference IM
• via email at Email Us!
• in person in Kresge Library.

Research Consultation
Request an individual session to get help with your research. You can expect the session within 2-3 days.

Refworks allows you to create a personal database of references and automatically generate formatted bibliographies for your projects.

K. Turabian, A Manual for Writers (Ref.  LB 2369 .T8 2007)

Writing Resources for Students
Find in-depth information about the mechanics of writing, MLA/APA citations, avoiding plagiarism, and more.

Writing Center
The consultants can help you with every stage of the writing process.

Created by Shawn Lombardo.
Last updated by D. Daniel, 01/18/13