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World Civilization I - HIST101 - Granger

Developing keywords using sources of background info

Start by pulling out the key person, text, organization, or event from your research topic and searching for information on them. A simple keyword search in the library's Research Starter databases or on the internet can lead you to credible sources that contain the basic facts about that topic. If your topic can be referred to in multiple ways, try different searches for each.

For example:

If your topic is Hadrian’s Wall (and the Roman colonization of Britain), you could search for Hadrian’s Wall, and then for Roman colonization Britain.
If your topic is King Xerxes, try searching just for Xerxes since the name is so unique

As you read your credible background sources, look for additional keywords about your topic. Feel free to use Wikipedia as a starting point to learn new terms and follow their citations.

Example: In the Wikipedia article for Zoroastrianism, you can learn that this religion is also known as a Mazdayasnā. That's another keyword you could try searching!
Example: Joan of Arc is also known as Jeanne d'Arc or the Maid of Orleans

Research Starters and Background Info databases

These databases can help you refine your topic or find additional keywords. Other research starters can be found on the Library's databases page by selecting "Research starters" from the top left.

Choose a database that seems most relevant to your topic. Not all of these will work for all topics.

Ancient and Medieval History Online
This database covers information for historical events from prehistory to 1500’s.
It provides biographies on notable ancient writers, military leaders and famous philosophers, Roman Emperors, Popes, Pharaohs/Queens of Egypt and archaeologists plus timelines, maps, graphs, videos and slideshows with links to many primary sources such as select works of literature, select religious texts, legal codes and constitutions and speeches.
Biography In Context
A Gale database that covers historically significant figures to present-day newsmakers by offering authoritative reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images.
It contains more than 650,000 biographical entries covering more than 400,000 international figures from all time periods and areas of study The database is continuously updated with full-text articles are drawn from hundreds of periodicals and newspapers, including The New York Times, USA Today, Daily Mail (London), and Globe and Mail (Canada).
Credo Reference
If you receive a "Connection refused by search.credoreference.com, please try again later" error message, please refresh your browswer to continue to Credo Reference.To avoid seeing this error, it is best to clear your browser's cache.

This is an online collection of over 950 titles with particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks as well as short reference videos, art images, and additional images across all subject areas. As subject coverage is diverse, this is a good place to begin a topic search before formal research.
Gale In Context: College
A Gale online resource that presents material on topics such as history, science, political and social issues and popular culture in support of students for papers, projects and presentations.
It is designed to reinforce critical thinking and problem solving skills. This database provides access to full-text newspapers and periodicals such as The Economist, The New York Times, National Geographic, Newsweek, Popular Science, and Smithsonian. This site places an emphasis on images, video and audio selections with archival film clips and broadcast video from sources such as BBC News, New York Times and NPR.
Literary Reference Center (EBSCO)
An EBSCO database that provides full text resources on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes.
Includes biographies, plot summaries, informational texts on numerous literary genres, themes and forms, essays from leading publishers, literary magazines and book reviews. It also offers poems, short stories, classic texts, and author interviews. A good place for literature research with helpful research guides and a citation tool.
World History In Context
A Gale resource that provides a media rich overview of world history that covers the most-studied events, periods, cultures, civilizations, religions, conflicts, wars, ideologies, cultural movements, and people.
Covered topics reach back to the ancient world and extend to today’s current headlines to deliver a chronicle of the great cultures and societies that have formed the history of the human race. This site places an emphasis on images and video with access to more than 1,700 primary source documents as well as reference materials such as the Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Gale Encyclopedia of World History, Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, and the Encyclopedia of the Renaissance. It also contains more than 2,000 maps and atlases, images, videos, and audio selections, from sources like archival newsreels, Critical Past, The History Channel, BBC News, and NPR with full-text coverage of periodicals and journals.

Reference Books

These virtual reference books and encyclopedias cover more targeted topics. Consider browsing through their tables of contents in addition to or instead of searching.

Defining Documents in World History: The Ancient World (2700 B.C.E.–c.500 C.E.) by Michael Shally-Jensen (Editor)
ISBN: 9781619257726
Publication Date: 2015
From Gilgamesh to Ancient Egypt to the Fall of Rome, this volume provides easy-to-use tools to engage, enlighten and give students a new frame of reference to study and analyze the most important documents from Ancient History. Through in-depth analysis of important primary documents from B.C.E. and C.E., readers will gain new insights into the life and culture in Ancient History. Written by historians and experts in the field, this resource examines a wide array of primary source documents with an in-depth critical analysis.
Defining Documents in World History: Middle Ages (476–1500) by Michael Shally-Jensen (Editor)
ISBN: 1619257742
Publication Date: 2015
his book offers in-depth analysis of a broad range of historical documents and historic events that shaped law, government, religion, and culture throughout the Middle Ages. Includes analysis of Byzantium and Western Europe; the Catholic Church and its vicissitudes; England and France; the Near East and beyond; philosophy, religion, and science; and more.
Great Events from History: The Middle Ages, 477-1453 by Chris Moose (Editor); Brian Alexander Pavlac (Editor); Byron Cannon (Editor); David A. Crain (Editor); Jeffrey W. Dippmann (Editor); Catherine Cymone Fourshey (Editor); R. N. Frye (Editor); Katherine Anne Harper (Editor); Franklin Ng (Editor); John A. Nichols (Editor)
ISBN: 9781587651670
Publication Date: 2004-11-30
Chronologically arranged, these 320 essays cover the world's most important events and developments from 477 through 1453 c.e. Each essay lists the event's most precise date of occurrence; a capsule summary of the event's importance; the category or categories of the event; the geographical locale (both contemporary and modern place-names); a list if Key Figures including name, birth and death years, and descriptors; a chronological Summary of Event; an assessment of the event's historical Significance; and a fully annotated Further Reading section listing sources for further study. A variety of illustrations, appendices, and indexes (see ""Features"") round out the set.
Milestone documents in world history: exploring the primary sources that shaped the world by Brian Bonhomme (Editor), Cathleen Boivin (Editor)
ISBN: 9780979775864
Publication Date: 2010
Key documents from all important world cultures are included, from the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt to the Greek and Roman Empires, medieval Islam, Renaissance Europe, and modern Africa and Asia. Constitutions, speeches, letters, acts, treaties, and legal cases are all covered.