History Tutorial

Vast amounts of information for the american and world histories have been published in print and electronic formats. Much of the information is free and may be found on the Internet. Other information may be found in specialized databases to which the library subscribes. Hints for obtaining information from these sources follow.

Internet (Internet glossary)

To find information, try the following search techniques at search engines. A search engine searches documents by keywords and returns a list for linking to the documents. Four search engines are Google, Alltheweb, Yahoo and Altavista. Notice that the advanced search tool allows choices for language, domain, etc. If you choose to use the basic search tool, i.e. Google,you may use the + sign, quotes, and an asterisk with your keywords to refine a search: "civil war" +worst commander

Different engines have different techniques so it is best to click on "Help" for detailed search instructions for the engine you use. Try typing in "Battle of Normandy" +clearinghouse" to retrieve a list of Internet sites that link to many other sites. Internet terms that are interchangable with "clearinghouse" are "gateway," "metasite," "pathfinder" and "directory. Some search engines attempt to limit searches to specific Internet domains: +"ancient Greece " +domain:gov but often mixed domains are returned in the results. Valuable information may be obtained from the deep web content of PDF or powerpoint files, i.e. "Abraham Lincoln " +filetype:pdf and "Abraham Lincoln" +filetype:ppt (You must have powerpoint software on your computer to view .ppt files.) If one search engine does not retrieve satisfactory results, switch to another search engine. Whatever data you find, it is always wise to evaluate information

Listed below are miscellaneous search strategies that you may tailor to the search instructions of the engine you use.

Need speech by former President Clinton on war in Bosnia: +"Bosnia" +"war" +"Clinton" +speech
Need bibliography onconscientious objectors: +"conscientious objector" +bibliography
Need to read the poem entitled "Celebrate Life:" +"celebrate life " +poem
Need an online language conversion dictionary for Spanish: +language dictionary +"Spanish"
Need to see a list of civil war battles in the state of Tennessee: +"Tennessee" +"civil war battles" +list
Need to find a picture, video or audio? Use Altavista search engine's Search screen and click choice at top


Specialized Resources

Research Central accesses fulltext and bibliographic electronic databases that you are encouraged to use during your studies with the university. However, you must have a southern.edu e-mail account to access the databases. Digital Dissertations is an excellent full text source. NetLibrary contains full text of books. Research Subject Guides for American History and World History are alerts to many resources in-house and on-line.


Other Resources

Digitized formats of valuable reference resources are slowly being added to the Internet but many are still in print form on library shelves.

Electronic Ref Civil War Women Legislative Site SAU History Dept Websites England History HistoryAudio Law & Legal Historiography Western Thought Classics Cultural Georgraphy American Ethnicity Online Books & Journals Historical Speeches

More information, contact Ann Greer