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History 106. Modern Europe:
Information Sources

Contents

• Suggestions for Historical Research in Libraries
• Using the Library Catalog to Find Primary and Secondary Sources
• Indexes and Bibliographies
• Encyclopedias and Reference Books on Modern Europe
• Statistical Sources
• Biographical Dictionaries and Indexes
• Core Journals
• Book Reviews
• Information Resources for History
• Connecting to Databases Linked From This Page

Suggestions for historical research in libraries:

1. Specialized encyclopedias, dictionaries and other reference books may provide useful overviews of the topic, define special terminology, and identify key persons and concepts.
2. Indexes and bibliographies listing published works and primary sources about historical periods, topics, and individuals are also often useful.
3. Use the Library Catalog to find books on your topic, and the online indexes to find relevant articles.
4. Use periodical indexes to find articles and book reviews.

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Indexes and Bibliographies (i.e., how to find books and articles on a topic)

• Arts and Humanities Search. Volumes for 1977-1986 are titled Arts and Humanities Citation Index & located in Main Reference AI3.A7. Indexes citations to works: what's cited by whom.
• Dissertation Abstracts, 1861-present. Indexes doctoral dissertations and some master's theses from over 550 colleges and universities worldwide. Dissertation abstracts available 1980- present; Master's theses abstracts, 1988- present.
• Historical Abstracts. (1955-current) Early volumes duplicated in Reference: D299 .H5. The best index to books and articles on world history (excluding the United States and Canada). Includes article abstracts, index of books, and comprehensive index by subject and author.
• MLA International Bibliography The basic index to scholarly work on literature: includes articles, books, collections of essays.
• National Union Catalog of Pre-1956 Imprints. Over 700 volumes listing millions of books printed before 1956. Especially useful for tracking down what someone wrote, or editions of a particular work (it includes every known edition of each work). Z 881 A1 U373
• WorldCat. Records of any type of material cataloged by member libraries worldwide. Listings include manuscripts written as early as the 12th century.

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Encyclopedias and Reference Books on Modern Europe

• Chronology of European History REF D 11.C57 1997
  Three-volume set containing good narrative accounts of major world events.
  Additional sources are also listed for each topic.
• Chronology of World History REF D 11.F75 1978
  Timelines of history, showing concurrent political, military and cultural events.
• Encyclopedia of the Holocaust REF D 804.E53 1990
• Great Events From History. Modern Europe Series REF D 809.M29
  Important historical documents are reproduced in this three-volume set.
• Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History REF DK 14.M6 (60 volumes)
• Oxford English Dictionary. (Index Table 9) REF PE 1625 .M7 1989
  The best source for the cultural and historical origins of words.
• Rulers and Governments of the World REF D 11.5.R67 1977

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Statistical Sources

• European Historical Statistics BGIC HA 1107.M5 1981
• International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750-1993 BGIC HA 1107.M5 1998

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Biographical Dictionaries and indexes

• Encyclopedia of World Biography. REF CT 103.E56 1997
• Biography and Genealogy Master Index, on the Library web site

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Core journals

• The British journal for the History of Science
  UNR MAIN Q125 .B77 v.9(1976)- to present
• Centaurus. International Magazine of the History of Science and Technology
  UNR MAIN Q1 .C4 v.21(1977)- to present
• Eighteenth-Century Studies
  Print copies shelved at NX 452 .E54
  Click here for online access to issues of Eighteenth-Century Studies from 1967-1995.
  Click here for online access to issues of Eighteenth-Century Studies from 1995 to the present
• Eighteenth-Century Life, 1996-present.
• The English Historical Review
  UNR MAIN DA20 .E58 v.61(1946)- to present
  UNR MAIN REF = Microfilm S0026 = v.1(1886)-v.20(1945)
• French Historical Studies
  UNR MAIN DC1 .F69 v.18(1993)- to present
• The Journal of British Studies
  UNR MAIN DA20 .J6 v.1(1961)- to present
• The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
  UNR MAIN CB351 .J78 v.26(1996)- to present
• The Journal of Modern History
  UNR MAIN = D1 .J6 = v.1(1929)-v.50(1978),v.52(1980)- to present
  INTERNET, v.1(1929)- to present (less current 5 years)
• Physis
  UNR MAIN Q54 .P53 v.18(1976)- to present
• Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Part A
  Print copies shelved at Q125 .S94 = v.1(1970)- to present
  INTERNET, v. 28 (1997)- to present

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Information Resources for History

This library web page provides access to subscription databases such as Historical Abstracts, Biography and Genealogy Master Index, Dissertation Abstracts, Global Newsbank, PAIS Archive, a growing list of electronic journals and freely available websites related to historical study. Links are also included to web-based syllabi for some UNR History courses.

World Wide Web Access has replaced most history-related CD-ROM databases in the UNR Libraries. A great deal of literature searching is possible using these online sources, and several full text primary sources are available, including HarpWeek and Global Newsbank. Although increasing numbers of sources are available online, it is still necessary for one to use printed bibliographies, reference works and microform collections to do competent and thorough historical research.

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Using the Library Catalog to Find Primary and Secondary Sources

• From the UNR Library's Main Menu, select UNR Library Catalog
• The Catalog provides information about books, magazine and journal titles, audiovisual materials, and some government publications held by the UNR Libraries and other college libraries in northern Nevada.
• For subject searching in the Library Catalog, the most effective options are:
  
  Subject
  (search words in title, name & subject fields by typing any combination
  of keywords or constructing a Boolean search statement)
  
  Library of Congress Subject Headings
  Searching by Library of Congress Subject Headings is often more precise
  and may yield more relevant information than does Subject searching.
  Below are examples of recommended LC subject headings pertinent to
  modern Europe:
   
  • Europe--Politics And Government--1648-1789
  • Enlightenment
  • Europe--Religion
  • France--Intellectual Life--18th Century
     
• Searching by personal names:
  
  You may use the Library Catalog’s Author Search to find an author's writings,
  or search a person's name as a Library of Congress Subject Heading
  to locate books about the individual. Some examples are given below:
   
  • Library of Congress Subject Heading Search:
  • Rousseau Jean Jacques, 1712-1778
     
  • Subject subheadings for information about Rousseau include
    Criticism and Interpretation, Political Science,
    and Psychology.
     
  • Author Search:
  • Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 1712-1778
     
• A search in the Catalog normally results in a list of titles, authors or subject headings. Choose the most relevant entries and display the information for individual titles. Carefully check the Location information for each title you want, since the collections are housed in several different libraries, departments, and branches. Likewise, check the Status of each item to determine its current availability.
• Note: The Catalog does not provide information about articles in magazines and journals, or most government publications held by the participating libraries.

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Book Reviews (also see section on Core Journals)

• Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost)
  • Indexes 7,800+ scholarly journals, with full text for 4,000 titles in a broad range of subject areas. 1965- present for selected titles.
    
    To search for book reviews, type the title of the book in quotes, then click the "Search" button, e.g. "Hitler's pope."
• Book Review Digest. REFERENCE INDEX TABLES
• Book Review Index. REFERENCE INDEX TABLES
• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974
  REFERENCE INDEX TABLES
• Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities. REFERENCE INDEX TABLES

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Connecting to Databases Linked from this Page

UNR's Library Catalog is freely available on the World Wide Web and requires no user login or authentication. You may connect to the UNR Library Catalog from any Web-enabled computer workstation.

Historical Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts, MLA Bibliography, electronic journals, and other sources linked from this page are accessed via subscriptions from commercial database providers. These services are available at Web-enabled computer workstations on the University of Nevada, Reno campus and off-campus to UNR students, faculty & staff with a current library card (with the exception that some electronic journals may not be accessible from workstations off campus). Off-campus users should click here to use these and other subscription databases. To use the subscription databases, return to this page (or any UNR Libraries web page) after restarting your web browser and completing your authentication.