Research Resources: Class Guides

HIS 316: Tudor & Stuart England

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Reference Resources - Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks and bibliographies

Reference or secondary sources are informational resources written by individuals who were not the actual participants in the topic at hand. They may be of value to your research since they often provide greater objectivity and different perspectives as a result of the passage of time. Common secondary sources include encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and bibliographies.

Please Note: The general call number range for History of Great Britain is DA1-DA995
The general call number range for the Tudors through the Later Stuarts is DA310-DA463

The Oxford Companion to British History: Ref. DA 34 .O93 1997
The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy: Ref. DA 40 .C29 1988
Encyclopedia of the War of the Roses: Ref. DA 250 .W34 2001
Tudor England: An Encyclopedia: Ref. DA 315 .T753 2001
Historical Dictionary of the Elizabethan World: Ref. DA 357 .W34 1999
Historical Dictionary of Stuart England, 1603-1689: Ref. DA 375 .H57 1996
Historical Dictionary of the British and Irish Civil Wars, 1627-1660: Ref. DA 405 .B344 2000
Who's Who in Tudor England: Ref. DA 317 .R68 1990
Who's Who in Stuart England: Ref. DA 337 .H55 1988b
Dictionary of National Biography: Ref. CT 773 .D4
22 volumes, with supplements

Search Terminology - Keywords and Subject Headings

When conducting research, always consider alternative keywords and subject headings for your topic. Begin by analyzing your topic or research question, and break it down into its key concepts. What keywords appear? Are there alternative keywords that come to mind?

For this course, keywords may include: House of Tudor, Early Stuarts, Elizabethan Age, Civil War, Cavaliers, Roundheads, Commonwealth, Restoration, Later Stuarts, Glorious Revolution, etc.

Subject headings may include: "Great Britain--History--Tudors, 1485-1603.", or "Great Britain--Court and courtiers--History--17th century.", or "Great Britain--History--Revolution of 1688." etc.

How to find books

Select the library CATALOG from the Library home page. In finding books for this class, try using the keyword and subject terms mentioned above.
When you discover a book of interest, select the "Title", and then the "Catalog Record" link to look at the assigned subject headings for that item. Note related subject headings, and click on them to find other books that are described in a similar way, and may prove useful.
Remember to search out call numbers in both the STACKS and the REFERENCE ROOM. Call numbers are designed to mirror themselves in these two areas. If you find a valuable book in the STACKS, you will find similar, high quality REFERENCE items under the same call number in the REFERENCE ROOM.

How to find and locate journal articles

Start by consulting the following electronic resources:

Historical Abstracts: Indexing for scholarly journals dealing with world history. Most citations include brief abstracts of the articles. Publications extend back to 1954. Subject coverage is from 1450 to the present.
Humanities Full Text: Indexing for scholarly journals, from 1983 to the present; contains abstracts and some full-text material. The major history journals are included.
JStor: Full-text articles from over 600 scholarly journals. Coverage varies; recent years are not included.
Project Muse: Full-text articles from almost 250 scholarly journals. Coverage varies; usually from 1995 or 1996 to the present.
WorldCat: Over 50 million records of many types from libraries around the world.

If the article you find is available in full-text, follow the appropriate links. If not, take note of the JOURNAL NAME being cited, and go to the Journals at F&M page to see if the library subscribes to the journal. If so, locate the journal in print or microfilm, and make a copy for your research.

For additional article resources, look under the Electronic Resources - A to Z List on the Library homepage.

Don't Forget: Always consult the bibliography at the end of a journal article for additional resources!

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web can be a helpful environment in which to access scholarly information. To search for more authoritative sites, use mediated search directories such as the Librarians Index to the Internet or Google Scholar.

Digitised Historical Parliamentary Material
Published Parliamentary material has been digitised and made available on the Internet by various organisations. The information on the pages listed within summarise the main series of material which are available in electronic form.

History of the Monarchy
The historical portion of the "official web site of the British Monarchy" contains many informative biographies, timelines, and genealogical charts for the ruling dynasties of England, Scotland, and the United Kingdom.

Palaeography Tutorial - UK National Archives
Extremely informative and fun web tutorial that will help you learn to read and transcribe English documents written between 1500 and 1800. Practice documents include wills, petitions, estate inventories, and unusual material such as a "Recipe for mince pies (Early 17th century)." From the National Archives (Surrey, United Kingdom) in partnership with University College London.

Palaeography Tutorial - The Ducking Stool Game
Test your paleaology skills and save the accused woman from her watery punishment!

Other "How To's"...

Research Tips: Citation Guide, Footnotes & Parenthetical Citation, Evaluating Materials, How to connect from off campus?, Glossary

Additional Research Assistance

Email or call Christopher Raab at christopher.raab@fandm.edu or 717-291-4225, or ASK US!

Last updated: 2/2/11 cr

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