USAFA Library Guides: History: Getting Started

Background and Brainstorming

Before diving into a new topic, it is good to read an overview. This will help you

identify the major events
know the players involved with events
gain a sense of the historiographical lenses applied (race, gender, sexuality, Marxist, etc.)
recognize key historians who study the topic
pinpoint key historical works to locate for your own research (look at those footnotes)

Wikipedia is a standard place to start (but not finish) your research, and below are many more resources, including Open Educational Resources (OER).

The American Yawp: A Massively Collaborative Open U.S. History Textbook
Written by a collective of historians, Yawp runs from Indigenous America to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Crash Course: History
Crash Course has a series of history focused on major geographic areas as well as histories on film and science. If you don't feel like reading, give these animated shorts a try.
History Reference Center
History Reference Center contains encyclopedic entries, reviews, and videos of historians discussing topics. It contains some scholarly articles as well.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Provides annotated guides that identify recent scholarship on a myriad of research topics.
Salem Press Online
Encyclopedic overviews of global topics including weapons and warfare. Either search for your topic or try browsing through the "view subject index" on the top left to generate research ideas.
World History Encyclopedia
In addition to encyclopedia entries, this source has translations of texts, audio and video lessons, images, maps, and more. It is all openly licensed or in the public domain too. That means you can use the pictures and stuff with proper citation in your own work.

Search across hundreds of encyclopedias, handbooks, and other reference titles in the Gale Virtual Reference Library.

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Subjects: Biology, Chemistry, English, Fine Arts, History, Languages & Cultures, Mathematical Sciences, Philosophy, Physics & Meteorology