Skip to Main Content

HIS 250: Historian's Craft

Professor McCoy, Fall 2016

Where Should I Begin?

Good background information may be found in reference sources. 

Reference sources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, manuals, guides) provide the following types of information on virtually any topic:

  • Reliable background information;
  • Articles written by subject experts;
  • Dates, timelines, events, people, definitions related to your topic;
  • Statistics;
  • A list of further readings, normally found at the end of encyclopedia articles.  Use these references as springboards for further research.

Find additional reference sources by searching Bishop Library's Catalog.  

Image Source:  Public Domain.  USAF.  1944.  Wikimedia Commons.