When researching your topic, it is important to find good, quality sources by reputable authors that agree with your ideas and back up your thesis.  There are many different types of sources out there: books, databases, newspapers, magazines, interviews, statistics, web sites, etc. Finding and using information from a variety of sources adds to the strength of your paper. 

Sources fall into 2 categories:

1. Primary Sources: Sources that are generated during the actual time period you are studying, including letters, government documents, diaries, speeches, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, manuscripts, etc. 

*Click the link above for tips on finding quality primary sources.

2. Secondary Sources: Sources that were created after the time period you are studying by someone without first-hand knowledge or experience of that time period / event.  These are typically scholarly books and articles. 

Below are some places you can go to find quality secondary (and in some cases, primary) sources:

• Books
  Destiny Online Catalog - The LFHS library has a great selection of books on various topics in U.S. History.
  
  
• Databases (Passwords can be found at the library circulation desk or on the library's Edline page - must sign in to see the passwords!)
  
  
  • For finding Scholary Journal Articles:
    
    
    • EBSCOhost's History Reference Online - collection of scholarly journal articles as well as primary sources.
      
      
    • Gale's U.S. History in Context - limit results to scholarly journal articles by doing an Advanced Search and clicking the "Peer Reviewed Journals" and/or "Academic Journals" checkboxes.
      
      
    • JSTOR - large collection of scholarly journal articles. Some of the articles can be rather dense and/or long, but all come from high-quality publications. (To access this database from home, email us at lfhslibrary@lfschools.net for the necessary link and instructions.)
      
      
  • For finding Reference Articles (encyclopedic information):
    
    
    • Gale's U.S. History in Context - besides scholarly / academic journal articles, as mentioned above, this database also contains aritcles from encyclopedias (as well as magazines, newspapers, primary sources, images, websites, and more).
      
      
    • ABC-CLIO - contains multiple databases, including American History, World at War, Pop Culture Universe, and American Government.
      
      
    • Galenet's Biography Resource Center - collection of biographies, great for research on a specific person.
      
      
    • History Reference Online - collection of history-related e-books.|
      
      
• Web Sites
  Finding quality, reliable web sites can be a tricky business - Check out the library's Social Studies Pathfinder page for recommendations.