HIST 1302:U.S. History from 1865 Research Guide

If we own the title, Texas A&M University-San Antonio Library will appear on the last line of the citation. The library's catalog also gathers titles that appear within San Antonio area libraries and throughout the world. These books will either have San Antonio Libraries or WorldCat Libraries on the last line. Any book that is tagged San Antonio Libraries can be checked out by using a TexShare card. For any book that is tagged WorldCat Libraries an Interlibrary Loan request can be made to get that book to the patron.

Use a book:

• when you need a lot of information on a topic
• to put your topic in context with other important issues
• to find historical information
• to find summaries of research to support an argument
• to lead you to related research and experts by looking at their bibliographies
• to add depth to a research topic

Tips For Finding Additional Books

• Remember, look at the bibliography and references of books to find additional resources for your research. 
• The print books are organized by subject on the book stacks in the library, so look at the books next to the book you are grabbing to find additional relevant books. 

Books are for the most part considered secondary sources, but they can sometimes be considered a primary source.

Examples of primary books include autobiographies or diaries. To find these books,  use the Advanced Search feature in the Library Catalog to limit the date of publication or by including the following keywords into the search box:

• sources, 
• personal narratives,
• diaries or journals, 
• interviews ,
• Autobiography
• correspondence 

** To find additional primary sources, look at the citations and bibliography in the books you have already found to see what primary sources the authors used.