Los Angeles Valley College Library: History Research Guide : Find Sources

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Also known as "Scholarly Articles," "Peer-Reviewed Articles," or "Academic Articles," these are:

Written and reviewed by scholars and provide new research, analysis, or information about a specific topic.
- "Review" means the article is approved by other experts before publication
Usually focused on a narrow subject or a single case study
Intended for an academic audience

Find History Articles:

America: History and Life with Full Text (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window
Covers the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Includes key journals, state and local history publications, and selected articles from scholarly journals in the social sciences and humanities. In addition to standard search features, this database allows for searching by time period.
U.S. History in Context This link opens in a new window
Coverage of significant people, events and topics in U.S. history. Full-text content includes reference, magazine, academic journal, and news articles; also included are primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites.
World History in Context This link opens in a new window
Coverage of significant people, events and topics in world history. Full-text content includes reference, magazine, academic journal, and news articles; also included are primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites.
Research Library (Proquest) This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary resource featuring a mix of scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and other sources across 150 subject areas.
JSTOR Archival Journals This link opens in a new window
Full-text scholarly and peer-reviewed journal articles across many disciplines. Please note this archive does not include current issues -- a three to five year delay is typical for most publications. Coverage includes economics, philosophy, political science, language and literature, history, art and art history, archaeology, classics, music, film studies, psychology, health policy, public policy, folklore, performing arts, religion, and more.

Full list of History databases

Unlike journal articles, scholarly books:

Are typically written on a broader, more general subject
Are written for a broad audience (easier to read than journal articles)
May contain a collection of related chapters by different authors
Contain less recent information, due to the lengthy publication process

Remember: you may only need to read one chapter of a scholarly book!

Find Books & eBooks:

OneSearch This link opens in a new window
OneSearch is the Library's "discovery" platform. It searches our collection of print books and provides access to ebooks and articles from select databases.

List of eBook databases

Primary sources are sources that are written by authors that were alive during or close to the events about which they were writing.

Features of Primary Sources

Cover a wide array of publication types, including diaries, histories, newspapers and other historical documents
Tell the reader about the time in which they were reading, often through first-hand experience
Can be used as evidence to create arguments or draw conclusions

Find Primary Sources:

Salem Press This link opens in a new window
Reference works including Milestone Documents in American History (full-text primary source documents from American History with expert analysis and commentary) and career books.
U.S. History in Context This link opens in a new window
Coverage of significant people, events and topics in U.S. history. Full-text content includes reference, magazine, academic journal, and news articles; also included are primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites.

Milestone Documents in World History: Exploring the Primary Sources That Shaped the World
Combining full-text primary sources with in-depth expert analysis, the 125 entries in the 4-volume set cover important and influential primary source documents from the third millennium BCE to the twenty-first century and include documents that range from laws and legal codes to letters, from treaties to constitutions, from royal edicts to political speeches.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
A collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly for use in college courses. In addition to documents long associated with a "western civilization" approach to history, it also provides much information on Byzantine, Islamic, Jewish, Indian, East Asian, and African history. You will also find many documents especially relevant to women's history and LGBT studies.

World History in Context This link opens in a new window
Coverage of significant people, events and topics in world history. Full-text content includes reference, magazine, academic journal, and news articles; also included are primary source documents, images, videos, audio files and links to vetted websites.
African American Experience (ABC-CLIO) This link opens in a new window
Supports research and scholarship in the field of African American Studies with a full library of works analyzing the contributions and challenges of African Americans throughout history, including the complete WPA Slave Narratives collection.
Indigenous Peoples of North America This link opens in a new window
Primary source collection documenting the cultural, political, and social history of Native Peoples from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
Latino American Experience (ABC-CLIO) This link opens in a new window
Documents the rich heritage and current culture of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans, Cubans, Dominicans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, and other Hispanic groups in the United States. Their stories are detailed through a collection of primary and secondary sources, beginning with pre-16th century Mayan, Incan, and Aztec empires and continuing through to the present day.

Full list of Primary Source Databases

Camera used to film documentaries In the field of History, it can be useful to use films and documentaries to better understand a research topic of interest. History students may want to find and watch documentaries in order to:

gain a more immersive understanding of historical events and the context in which they unfolded.
discover firsthand accounts and eyewitness testimonies that provide unique insights into the past.
educate themselves on historical subjects that may not have extensive written records or readily available primary sources.

The following streaming video databases feature a wide coverage of content in the discipline of History.

Find Documentaries:

Archival Films & Newsreels Video Collection (Films on Demand) This link opens in a new window
Archival and historical films relating to U.S. cultural and social history. This database features an extensive newsreel collection as well as recordings from the National Archives and Records Administration of historic speeches and events.
Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
With more than 40,000 titles, Films on Demand features content that will both educate and entertain, covering a wide range of curricular subjects, including history, biology, business and economics, engineering, computer science, technical and trade skills, art and architecture, music and dance, philosophy and religion, geography, environmental science, anthropology, language and literature, mathematics, psychology, sociology, political science, and more. Producers include A&E, PBS, BBC Learning, National Geographic, ABC News, NBC News, CNBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, HBO Documentary Films, PBS NewsHour, Open University, Bill Moyers, California Newsreel, Annenberg Learner, TED, Films for the Humanities & Sciences, and more.
Academic Video Online (AVON) This link opens in a new window
Multidisciplinary streaming video database with more than 62,000 titles curated for higher education. Alexander Street includes a range of scholarly video material including: documentaries, interviews, performances, news programs and newsreels, field recordings, commercials, demonstrations, original and raw footage. Also included are thousands of award-winning films, Academy®, Emmy®, and Peabody® winners along with new releases, archival material, and titles frequently used for classroom instruction.

Video: Types of Sources

In the following video [3:54], you will learn how to select a resource appropriate to your information need, the importance of analyzing a resource’s capabilities and constraints, and how to determine if a resource has quality information.

Note: clicking on the image below will open the video in a new tab or window.

History Research Guide

Citation Resources

Additional Help

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Video: Types of Sources