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This guide provides information on using a variety of sources to find primary and secondary sources for different facets of History. Additional topic guides are being developed to reflect key teaching areas at La Trobe.

Research and academic skills

Books and online videos

Your lecturers have provided you with a selection of comprehensive and highly relevant reading resources via the reading lists interface. They have specifically chosen the most relevant resources from a vast body of literature to ensure that you are using the most appropriate texts.

Start your research with encyclopedias, dictionaries and companions to get a broad overview of an subject area, term, concept, field, time and/or place as they have article length entries that often include suggestions for further reading and other helpful background information.

Below is a small selection held by La Trobe Library.

 

Physical books on History can be found on a number of shelves in the library. If you are on one of our campuses, browsing these shelves can be a good way to familiarise yourself with the field and make unexpected or serendipitous discoveries. A few key DDC (Dewey Decimal Classification) numbers are below. 

History 

907.2

Historical Research

909

World History

930s

History of the Ancient World
994s History of Australia

 

The majority of our books are in digital format which means that they are available to you from wherever you are studying. You can find them by searching the library collections using relevant keywords and search tips. 

We provide access to our digital resources via a number of key platforms - see the ebooks guide to find out how to access and use them. 

Videos can give you a new way to think about key concepts and archaeological sites and therefore increase, consolidate and/or reinforce your understanding. Additionally, they give you useful key words, people and places to look up in databases and find more relevant journal articles, policy, artefacts and images.

There are videos within a number of our platforms but the platforms below have extensive collections. 

Check if a journal is peer reviewed

Peer reviewed articles are written by an expert in a discipline, published in a scholarly journal and reviewed by a peers (other experts) in the discipline prior to being published. As such, they are 'gold standard' secondary sources. 

You can identify peer reviewed journals by searching for the title in the Ulrichsweb platform that the library subscribes to: