Good historic research uses scholarly journal articles. A journal is like a magazine except that the articles in it are written by researchers and have been checked by other scholars in a process called peer review.
So how do you find these articles? You search for them in a database. The library provides access to many databases. Some databases have the full text of articles right in them (like EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier or JSTOR) and some databases just have descriptions of the articles and links to the full text (like Historical Abstracts). The complete list of databases available can be found by clicking the History Databases Tab above.
Which of these databases should I use? That depends on your topic and the time period you want to study.
If you deal with World History (1500 to present) choose Historical Abstracts first.
If your topic deals with pre-1500 World History check out EBSCOhost's Academic Search Premier or Web of Science.
If you deal with British or Irish history use: Bibliography of British and Irish History Online
If your topic is on Canadian History, check out the Library Guide on Canadian History.
Also be aware that even when an article is not in our library or the open web, it is possible to get it via a free service the library provides known as Inter-Library Loans. We will need to get it from another library, so you will need to put your request in a week or two before you need it.
Interlibrary loans (ILL) provides access to journal articles, books and other items unavailable through the library. The service is available to all students, staff and faculty, is usually free and can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the library supplying us.
ILLs can be submitted to us via various Databases, as well as via our Online Forms. In either case, you will need to use your Brandon University ILL account to do so.
For more information, see the Interlibrary Loan page.