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FYS: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?: Revolutionary War Archaeology: Background Information

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. 

Finding Background Information on One's Research Topic

Encyclopedias, Handbooks, & Reference Works

Subject specific encyclopedias and handbooks are a good starting point for researching a topic. The articles or chapters contained within are typically written by scholars or experts in the field. Using them at the beginning of one's research can help in determining key terms to use in searching the library's catalog and databases. A bibliography containing citations for books and/or journal articles can often be found at the end of articles or chapters in subject specific encyclopedias and handbooks, and these citations can be used to identify other sources on one's topic.

Subject Guide

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Carolyn McCallum
Contact:
ZSR Library
Resource Services, 270D
336.758.4692
Subjects: Anthropology

Subject Guide

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Kaeley McMahan
she/her/hers
Contact:
ZSR 457-C
(336) 758-4661