Research Essay Assignment – Primary source key requirements

• Choose one written primary source from the primary source collections (in instructor's office), or one from online archives on American history as the basis for your essay topic.

Open access primary source collections

The following is a small selection of online archives related to American history.

Research Essay Assignment – Secondary source key requirements

• Find a minimum of four recent, academic secondary sources (books or articles written by historians and published by university presses or academic journals) accessible through the Camosun Library.
• You may also try the UVic library if you cannot find enough material at Camosun. 
• The secondary sources will all:
  • have footnotes,
  • be published after 1980 and,
  • be at least 15 pages in length (shorter works will not provide the necessary details you need to support your own argument in the paper).
• Avoid the use of online sources since most of them are not peer reviewed (i.e. not academic) and are likely too short.

Academic resources at the Camosun Library

Camosun library subscribes to a number of databases containing collections of scholarly articles, book chapters, and other resources related to history topics. Use the databases below to find scholarly and peer-reviewed articles and book chapters.

To cast your research net wider, start by using the Single Search search tool. Use the advanced search option to add and experiment with keywords. Refine your search using the publication date, source type, and subject tools located on the left hand side of your search results.

Accessing resources from the UVic Libraries

Camosun students can access UVic Libraries collections in two ways:

1. Go to the UVic Libraries and visit the Circulation Desk on the first floor for access as a community borrower. As a community borrower you can take out books, and sign in to access the Libraries databases while on site at the library.
2. Search the UVic Libraries collections and make an interlibrary loan request for an article or a book. Please note, inter-library loans for articles may take up to 7 days to process, inter-library loans for books may take up to 14 days to process.