Finding Books

For books at OU: use KL's Online Catalog
The online catalog also includes ALL the journals OU owns, both print and electronic versions. Search by journal title.

For books at other MI libraries: use MeLCat

For books at other libraries: use WorldCat

When you find and retrieve a book that suits your research needs, be sure to browse the titles of other books found near your book, as these may also be helpful. Also look at the bibliographies for leads to additional sources.

Journal Article Databases

JSTOR

A database of hundreds of full-image journals in a variety of subject areas, including history and anthropology. Coverage of most journals extends back to the journal's first issue (sometimes in the 1800s) up to, but not including the last few years.

America: History and Life
A bibliography of articles, book reviews, and dissertations dealing with the history of the United States and Canada.

Historical Abstracts

A bibliography of articles, book reviews and other materials dealing with the history, excluding the U.S. and Canada.

Project Muse

A database of over 100 full-text journals in the humanities and social sciences. Coverage extends back to the last few years.

History Cooperative

Contains full-text articles from 25 history journals for the past few years.

Humanities Abstracts

Selective collection of high-impact humanities journals, some of which are full-text.

Academic OneFile

Lists periodical citations, and includes some full text. Coverage is from 1980-present. Also includes selections from encyclopedias and other reference books for some topics.

Citation Searching

A very effective research strategy is to consult the reference lists and bibliographies of books and journal articles that you find; these bibliographies should help you identify other valuable materials on your topic. Your next step is to determine whether KL owns that book or journal article.

e.g.: Suppose you find the following citation in the bibliography of a book or article you're reading:
Scammell, G. V. New worlds revisited: some recent studies in the early history of the European expansion. The Historical Journal, v. 23, no. 3, Jan. 1, 1980, p. 717-727.

Check to see if KL owns this journal (Historical Journal) by searching the Library Catalog. (Be sure to perform a Journal Title search using the title of the journal —Historical Journal — NOT the title of the article.) If Kresge Library does not have this article, you can order a copy through Interlibrary Loan.

Contact Information

Librarian:  Linda Hildebrand or anyone at the Reference Desk

Email:   hildebra@oakland.edu

Telephone:   (248) 370-2483

Print Reference Books

American Eras (8 vols.) Ref. E 169.1 .A471979 1997
Reader’s Companion to American History Ref. E 174.R43 1991
Oxford Companion to United States History  Ref. E174.O94 2001
Dictionary of American History Ref. E 174 .D52 2003
Colonial America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural and  Economic History  (5 vols.)  Ref. E 162 .C68 2006
Annals of America Ref. E 173 .A793 (especially Volume 1, which  contains primary source material from 1493 to 1754)
Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America  Ref. E 188.E63.
Encyclopedia of Latin America: History and Culture. Ref. F 1406. E53 2008.
Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America. Ref. F 1406. C36 1992

Primary Source Resources

There are a number of authoritative websites that contain primary source material relating to the American colonial era.  Two of them are:

Web Resources for Colonial American History

Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents

Early American Imprints 1639-1800.

Kresge Library has a collection of colonial newspapers on microcard.

In addition, consult Kresge Library's Primary Sources Research Guide for free, online primary source collections.

Writing & Research Assistance

Refworks

A bibliographic citation tool which allows you to easily export your records from different databases to one place. It also allows you to output your bibliography in a variety of citation styles, including APA, MLA, Chicago and Turabian.

Citation help for commonly cited sources such as books, journal articles, and newspapers.

Kresge Library Links to Writing Resources

Find in-depth information about the mechanics of writing and grammar, writing MLA format, citations, avoiding plagiarism & more.   

General Library Information

Ask a Librarian

Floor map of the Kresge Library

Interlibrary Loans via ILLIAD