Conard High School Library Media Center
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O'LEARY ASSIGNMENTS/RESOURCES:

       US History Research Paper                           (under construction)

Books
Getting Started on Your Research Project
will guide you through the process of finding books with information on your topic.

Databases
The best place to start your online research may be a subscription database. Search results can vary from short, introductory entries on your topic to in-depth, scholarly articles. Databases to try include:

American Heritage Magazine
A history publication with issues dating back to 1954 maintained in the reference section of the Conard Library. 
Search for your topic in the index volume that can be found, along with the magazines at REF 973.AME.

Primary Sources 

  • The library has extensive collections of primary documents from American history. Find them by searching Athena with such terms as: sources or eyewitness or documents or oral history or personal narrative - combined with keywords that relate to your topic. (e.g. Vietnam and "personal narrative", Holocaust and eyewitness, "Great Depression" and sources).
     

  • The reference section contains several major collections of the most important documents from American History. They include the titles listed below and many others that may be found using the terms given above.
          The Annals of America                                  REF 973 ANN
         
    Documents of American History                     REF 973 COM
          100 key documents in American democracy   REF 973 ONE
          Terrorism: A documentary history                   REF 303.625 TER

     

  • Call numbers that begins with PI refer to special kits of primary source materials - actual facsimiles of the original documents - related to many American history topics.The librarians can show you where they are.
     

  • Databases to search:  History Resource Center: U.S. , Annals of American History Online, Historical Hartford Courant, and through the West Hartford Public Library, The Historical New York Times.
     

  • Websites:  Library of Congress - American Memory Collection , The National Archives ,
    AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History , Connecticut History Online , more to come.
     

  • LIFE Magazine Collection - popular culture in America from 1955 through 1998.