History Day Research at the University of Arkansas Libraries

The guide is intended to assist middle school and high school history students researching History Day projects.

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Books About History Topics

Often there are ample published studies already about a subject. Depending on your historical topic, there may not be an entire book on every episode or person.

If you can't find a book on your topic, try:

  • expanding your search
    For example, a general book on the blues might have chapters or sections on Arkansas and Arkansas musicians.

  • looking for journal articles, rather than books
    Journal articles usually cover much more specific subjects than whole books. For example, while a book might cover all of Arkansas during the Great Depression, you might find a journal article on Van Buren during the Great Depression.

  • ask a librarian for help
    There's someone available 24/7.

Keyword vs. Subject

Keywords--terms that can appear anywhere in a record--are the quick and easy way to search.
Using keywords, you can combine multiple ideas, or locate specific essays inside collective works.

Connectors: Use "and" or "or" to specify multiple words in any field, any order. Use "and not" to exclude words. Examples:

  • plantations and arkansas
  • civil war or reconstruction
  • mcmath and not bob

Wildcards: Words may be right-hand truncated using an asterisk or question mark:

  • * for any number of characters
  • ? to replace a single character anywhere within a word

Examples : slave*, wom?n

Adjacency: "And" is assumed between words. Place phrases in quotes. Example:

"brooks baxter"

Subject Headings--terms applied by catalogers or indexers--describe the content of the item. Often, subject headings are divided by geographic place, by time period, by ethnic group, or other aspects. Subject headings are searched as phrases.


Using subject headings will pull together related records with terminology you may have not considered in your keyword search.

Examples:

keywords / ideas subject headings
colonial / territorial period
  • french--arkansas
  • indians of north america--arkansas
  • arkansas--history--19th century
civil war
  • arkansas--history--civil war--1861-1865
  • united states--history--civil war--1861-1865--african americans
  • united states--history--civil war--1861-1865--economic aspects
  • united states--history--civil war--1861-1865--psychological aspects
  • united states--history--civil war--1861-1865--social aspects
  • confederate states of america--social conditions
  • confederate states of america--economic conditions
  • pea ridge, battle of, ark 1862
reconstruction
  • arkansas--history--1865-
  • reconstruction--u.s. history, 1865 1877
  • reconstruction--u.s. history, 1865 1877--sources
  • reconstruction--u.s. history, 1865 1877--mississippi
  • reconstruction--u.s. history, 1865 1877--public opinion
  • reconstruction--u.s. history, 1865 1877--social aspects
  • united states--politics and government-1865-1883
  • united states--bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands
  • southern states--history-1865-1877
populism and progressive era
  • populist party (ark)
  • populism--southern states--history
  • labor unions--southern states
  • populism--united states--history
  • social movements--united states--history
  • agriculture--societies--etc.
  • progressivism (united state politics)
  • national farmer's alliance
jim crow and the civil rights struggle
  • african americans--arkansas
  • civil rights movement--united states
  • civil rights movement--southern states
  • civil rights movement--arkansas
  • african americans--civil rights
  • women civil rights workers
  • segregation--law and legislation--united states
  • southern states--race relations--history
depression, new deal and world war
  • depressions, 1929--arkansas
  • southern states--economic conditions, 1918-
  • arkansas--history--20th century
  • new deal, 1933-1939
  • world war, 1939-1945--arkansas