Gathering Background Information
Use the background sources here, as well as other sources you might encounter, to gather information about your topic and consider what you still need to know before you start researching. You can use this information in searching for primary sources.
- Dates - Places - Names of persons involved - Names of organizations, government agencies, etc. - Names of particular laws or events
Background sources can also help you understand the larger historical context, so that you can determine what primary sources might be most useful or how a particular primary source fits into what was happening at that time.
Selected Resources
- Gale eBooks This link opens in a new windowSearch across hundreds of subject encyclopedias and other reference works. A great place to find background information on almost any research topic. Includes a topic finder for help with narrowing or broadening your research topic. Coverage: varies
- Oxford Handbooks Online: History This link opens in a new windowOnline access to the Oxford Handbooks series in History. Each handbook takes an aspect of its discipline, explains the key issues, the classic and contemporary debates on those issues, and describes how those debates might evolve. The handbooks offer authoritative and trustworthy guides to the scholarship that defines the field.
- Cambridge Histories This link opens in a new windowTopically focused collections of essays that seek to provide comprehensive analysis of major events, peoples, and ideas in world history.
- Routledge Handbooks Online This link opens in a new windowOverviews of research and trends and background information in the Social Sciences and Humanities. WFU access includes the following subject collections: Asian Studies; Communication, Journalism, Media & Culture; Environment & Sustainability; Law; Philosophy; Politics; Religion; Security Studies; and Sociology.
- Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new windowThe Bibliography of Asian Studies is a comprehensive database that covers the cultures and histories of East, Southeast, and South Asia, as well as overseas Asian communities.
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India by Call Number: ONLINE; Main Stacks - Reynolds wing, 8th floor; HN683.5 .J33 2016ISBN: 9781315682570Publication Date: 2015-08-11
Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450 by Call Number: ONLINEISBN: 9780028658438Publication Date: 2006-08-25
The Oxford Handbook of the Ends of Empire by Call Number: ONLINEISBN: 9780198713197Publication Date: 2019
Encyclopedia of World Trade: from Ancient Times to the Present by Call Number: ONLINEISBN: 0765680580Publication Date: 2004
Encyclopedia of Race and Racism by Call Number: ONLINE; Main Stacks - Reynolds wing, 7th floor; E184.A1 E584 2013ISBN: 9780028661957Publication Date: 2013-02-01
