Trexler Library | Muhlenberg College

Revolutionary America

Need help with your research? Contact:

Kelly Cannon
Humanities & Business Librarian
phone: x3602
email: kcannon@muhlenberg.edu
IM (AIM, Yahoo, MSN): refcannon
Reference desk IM: talktotrexler

Reference works

American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature (Trexler Ref Collection 016.9 G946 1995)
Bibliography that identifies major secondary studies on a variety of historical topics.

American National Biography (Trexler Ref Collection 9020.073 A512n)
Excellent source, in the event you are focusing on a person, for locating recommended primary and secondary sources, and finding a research question.

Dictionary of American History (Trexler Ref Collection 973.003 D554o)
Fairly good multi-volume resource for recommending important secondary sources, and possibly finding a research question.

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
An alternative source for locating research questions.

Is there a well-known website that feature primary documents from U.S. history of this period?

American Memory (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/index.html)
Digital archive from the Library of Congress.

How do I locate both primary and secondary sources as published in books?

Trexler Library Catalog
NOTE: Access from the Trexler Library website (http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library) > catalog.
Catalog of all books and documents in Trexler Library at Muhlenberg College.

WorldCat
NOTE: Access from the Trexler Library website > Database > Most Popular > WorldCat
Catalog of books and documents in libraries throughout the world. Watch especially for the AREA LIBRARIES designation.

How do I locate peer-reviewed (scholarly) journal articles as secondary source material, many of which will footnote primary materials that I can then acquire from the databases listed above?

America History & LIfe ***RECOMMENDED***
NOTE: Access from the Trexler Library website > Articles A to Z
Index to historical research about U.S. history, 1492-present. Links through "Get It" to JSTOR and Project Muse.

getting to the full text. . .

Once you have found the citation of a journal article you're interested in, click on the Get It link found next to the citation, or run a journal title search in Trexler Library's online catalog. NOTE: Access from Trexler Library website > catalog.

articles via interlibrary loan. . .

Journal articles not found in Trexler Library can be ordered on interlibrary loan.
NOTE: Access from Trexler Library website > ILL

Citing sources

For tips on citing print and electronic sources in the Chicago style, visit Trexler Library's Citation Guides for Print and Electronic Resources. NOTE: Access from the Trexler Library website > Citation Guides.

For automated citation, try the shareware Zotero (http://www.zotero.org/). Here is a user guide.