IA Where do you get History sources from?

[Zein]

Is there a useful website or do you just search the topic and find sources by chance?

Thanks

[ak18]

Well i wouldn't say you find them by chance but yeah it depends on your topic really. Although some schools do subscribe to a history database that has articles and such on most topics. Ask your history teacher about that. Your school might have subscribed

[Arrowhead]

JSTOR and QUESTIA are good starting points.

[Alpaca]

JSTOR and QUESTIA are good starting points.

You need to be subscribed to them though - so if you're school has a website or if you can contact a librarian ask if you have any subscriptions. Apart from that, books books books - never use internet articles unless you can prove that they are a valid and reliable source.

Also, searching 'primary resources for ___' sometimes pulls up some surprising results such as letters etc which can be very helpful and make your research seem more thorough. Happy hunting!

[bluedino]

Not sure what history you're doing, but usually there's like a book called "Source book"/"Collection of primary sources" about your topic? As in, you should check out your library/search the library catalogue, because there are so many helpful books out there. Even secondary source books usually contain primary source extracts you might be able to use.

You could also try searching on Google Scholar or Google Books to find a book that might be helpful. Once you find a book, you could search to see which libraries in your country have the books. Like I said, I don't know what your topic is, but you might have to make some treks to find good sources. When I did my History IA I had to frequently go to this library about an hour away from where I live because they were the only library that had the certain books I needed. Hope this helps + makes sense

[Emmi]

What I found helpful was to go to a Wikipedia page on something related to my topic and look at the primary and secondary sources that the Wikipedia authors used to write the page. Although the Wikipedia page isn't a reputable source, the ones listed at the bottom are, and can be an excellent starting point. You may even be able to find some of them online or in a library near you.