Skip to main content
Skip to Library Help widget
CSUN
University Library

HIST 301: The Historian’s Craft: Reading, Research and Writing History

This is a course guide for students enrolled in History 301 at California State University Northridge.

Search Strategies

Review this guide to learn how to better plan your search in OneSearch and get the results you need.
http://libguides.csun.edu/onesearch

 

Brainstorming Keywords

Before you begin your search, compile a list of potential search terms (keywords) related to your topic.
These search terms may come from your class readings, topic lists, or  other sources that discuss the subject your are researching.  For example:

  • historians such as George Mosse or Ian Kershaw
  • schools of historiography such as: The Annales School, cultural history or psychohistory
  • time periods such as: American Civil War, French Revolution, The Second Great Awakening
  • works such as: Magna Carta or Magna Carta Libertatum
  • other history terms such as: revisionism, histoire des mentalités

Using Boolean Operators

Keywords can be combined with other keywords using the AND operator to narrow your topic.  For example:

  • Jim Crow AND segregation
  • The Great Depression AND The New Deal
  • Frederick Jackson Turner AND 'the frontier thesis"
  • functionalism AND intentionalism AND holocaust

Keywords can be combined with synonyms using OR to broaden your search. For example:

  • KKK OR ku klux klan
  • Scopes Trial OR Monkey Trial
  • holocaust OR Shoah
  • Dred Scott Decision OR Dred Scott Case
     

Search Tips - Truncation & Wildcards

Truncation:

Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings.

  • To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end.
  • The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.
  • Examples: 
    histor* = history, historian, historicity, historicism, historical, historiography
    nation* = nation, nations, nationhood, nationalism
  • Truncation symbols may vary by database; common symbols include: *, !, ?, or #

 

Wildcards:

Similar to truncation, wildcards substitute a symbol for one letter of a word.

  • This is useful if a word is spelled in different ways, but still has the same meaning.
     
  • Examples: 
    wom!n = woman, women
    colo?r = color, colour
Subjects: History