Citation Resources
The most often used citation style for History is:
Chicago Manual of Style Online
Organize your sources using Zotero.
Finding Sources
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
Why You Should Use Them:
- Information is based on research and expertise
- Information is detailed and focused on a narrow topic
- The peer-review process (mostly) insures that the information is accurate
- They add to a growing understanding of a topic by contributing new ideas
Find History Articles:
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Coverage includes history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. Some current issues are available now.
- America: History & Life This link opens in a new windowIndexes and abstracts the world's scholarly literature in the history of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present.
- LGBT Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowHistorically significant LGBT journals, magazines and regional newspapers, as well as dozens of full text monographs.
- Reader's Guide Retrospective This link opens in a new windowIndexes general-interest American magazines. Covers 1892-1983. Some content will be online in other databases. Use Journal Finder to check for full text access.
Additional Databases:
Books written by scholars are a good source of information for many topics.
Why You Should Use Them:
- Written on a broad subject
- Easier to read than journal articles, and written for a broad audience
- University press books undergo an editorial process
- May contain a collection of chapters written 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:
Search Belk Library's online system to find both library materials and articles in our databases. Use the search box below to do a basic search on library materials and databases.
Interlibrary Loan:
- Interlibrary LoanIf we don't have the book, chapter or article you need, you can request it here!
Use these resources to find newspaper articles online.
Why You Should Use Them:
- May be considered a primary source if written at the time an event occurred
- May include eyewitness or firsthand accounts of events
- Frequently include other primary source objects like photographs, editorials, political cartoons, letters to the editor, advertisements, etc.
Find Newspaper Articles:
- Access World News This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive news collection cover events at the local, regional, national and international level. This source includes print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Also includes news articles from 1970-1991, including firsthand reports and varying regional perspectives. (Primary source)
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times with Index This link opens in a new windowAccess to the archives of The New York Times (1851-2019)
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Washington Post This link opens in a new windowAccess to the archives of The Washington Post (1877-2007)
- Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new windowHistorical newspapers from across the United States and beyond. Obituaries. Photos. Access 575+ million pages. Articles. From the 1700's to 2000's. Great for history and genealogy research.
- The Times Digital Archive (London) This link opens in a new windowThe Times Digital Archive is an online, full-text facsimile of more than 200 years of the Times, one of the most highly regarded resources for eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century news coverage, with every page of every issue from 1785 to 2012. (Primary Source)
Find Additional Newspapers:
- Newspaper ResourcesThis Elon University page has a list of links leading to online newspaper sources.
Documentaries, videos, and photographs are great resources for research in the social sciences. They are available through several online streaming platforms in the library's database collection.
Why You Should Use Them:
- They preserve important events or moments in time
- They educate us and raise awareness
- Focus is on real-life events and people
Find Videos & Images:
- Academic Video Online (AVON) This link opens in a new windowOver 68,000 titles spanning a wide range of subjects: anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. AVON includes a variety of video material with curricular relevance: documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, news programs and newsreels, demonstrations, and raw footage.
- Films on Demand Video Collection This link opens in a new windowThousands of high quality videos on business & economics, health & medicine, humanities & social sciences, and science & mathematics, as well as travel and fitness programming, home and how-to videos, indie films, and popular music performances. Includes Oscar, Emmy and Peabody award winning documentaries, interviews, instructional and vocational training videos, historical speeches and newsreels.
- Kanopy Streaming Video This link opens in a new windowFor off campus access, please sign in with your Elon username and password.
Large collection of video documentaries and movies from many producers covering many subjects; pop culture, nursing, public health, lgbt issues, social sciences, sciences, political science and events, the arts, global studies, education, etc. NOTE: Kanopy has changed to mediated access and films will only be available by faculty/staff request. Click here to order Kanopy Streaming Videos that we don't have access to already. - Artstor This link opens in a new windowMore than 2.5 million images related to art, art history, architecture, painting, photography, and visual and material culture.
Polls and surveys are a type of data collected from specific populations. Poll and survey questions gather information, preferences, choices, or opinions from these populations. In historical research, they may provide information about social, political, or national issues during specific time periods or from geographic regions.
Be sure to speak with a librarian if you don't find what you need. They will be able to suggest other sources of information to help you with your research needs.
Find Polls & Surveys:
- Polling the Nations This link opens in a new windowPublic opinion polls containing 350,000 questions and responses from 14,000 surveys in the U.S. and 80 other countries, 1986-present.
- Roper Center for Public Opinion Research This link opens in a new windowOne of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. 1930- present. Available only to Elon students, faculty and staff
General Databases:
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new windowScholarly full-text journals and peer-reviewed journals covering a wide range of subjects. 1975 to present.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. Coverage includes history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics, humanities and social sciences. Some current issues are available now.
- Project Muse This link opens in a new windowIs a leading provider of digital humanities and social science content for the scholarly community. Includes books and journals.
- Research Library (ProQuest) This link opens in a new windowGeneral reference database from business and political science to literature and psychology scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines, and daily news content, accessible to readers and researchers at every level.
Access All Databases: