Visiting the Library: International Baccalaureate Students

Finding background information is an important first step in research, and encyclopedias are a great place to start. Your school library offers a variety of encyclopedias, and you can also use the resources listed on the University of Arizona Library's History Subject Guides for useful information on your topic.

Secondary sources are books and articles written by historians who didn’t witness events firsthand. They analyze, interpret, or summarize primary sources.

Books: Search your topic in the UA Library using keywords (use AND to combine terms, for example: "great depression" AND women). Filter your results for “Books” to find print or eBooks.

Journals: Find scholarly articles in these databases (Note: Visiting students can only use these resources when logged into the University of Arizona Guest Wi-Fi).

• America: History & Life – Articles, book and media reviews, and dissertations covering historical research on the United States and Canada from 1964 to the present.
• Historical Abstracts – Citations to articles, books, and dissertations covering the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present.
• JSTOR – Articles, book reviews, and more from thousands of academic journals across the social sciences, humanities, arts, and sciences.

Tip: Use keywords from your research question and combine them with AND or OR to narrow or broaden your search.