Doing European
History Research

Workshop for HIST 030
(Brown, Fall 2025)

Simon Elichko (they/he)

Social Sciences & Data Librarian

What we'll go over:

  • Understanding different types of sources
  • Navigating scholarly research
  • Exploring digital collections for postwar European history
  • How to get the most out of research projects

One 10-12 page final paper, due by 12:30pm on Dec. 22 (approx. 40% of final grade).
 

Choose any one weekly topic theme and write an analytical essay on the subject. This paper requires you to use both primary and secondary sources.


Oct. 27, 12:30pm: Tentative paper topic, two potential outside secondary sources, two potential primary sources due

Understanding different types of sources

Information Timeline Graphic by adstarkel. Used under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

First place to look:

Research Guide for HIST 030

How to find it:

See this page: Primary Sources

Primary sources:

exploring digital collections

Historical News

 

Pair up with the person next to you.

Run the same search in these two databases and compare what you find:

  • The Times Digital Archive
  • The Guardian and Observer

What do you notice about the results?

Exploring additional primary sources

See these pages in the research guide for links to relevant databases:

  • News
  • Video & Audio
  • Online Collections

This is also a great reason to reach out to a librarian or archivist!

Navigating scholarly research

Secondary Sources:
Books & Book Chapters

Go to Tripod (tripod.swarthmore.edu)

Switch to the Course Reserves search

Search Megan Brown 

Questions for identifying scholarly research

  • Who wrote it?
    • Does the author have training in history? Another field?
    • What kind of expertise do they have about the topic of the book?
       
  • Who published it?
    • University presses such as Duke, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, Chicago, Penn, Rutgers, Wisconsin
    • Non-university presses that often publish scholarly books include Routledge, Berghahn, Rowman and Littlefield, Springer/Palgrave
       
  • How does this source engage with other research?
    • Do you see citations to other scholarship?
    • Are there notes and/or references at the end of the book or article?

Choose one of these books

History Databases

Finding journal articles and book reviews

Useful databases for finding history research

Let you find articles by time period being discussed

 

Searching a Database:

Historical Abstracts

  1. Start from Tripod (tripod.swarthmore.edu) or swarthmore.edu/libraries.
  2. Follow the link to Database Finder.
  3. Look for Historical Abstracts. Click the yellow S to connect.

Searching a Database: Historical Abstracts

Reasonable search, but it
doesn't work very well:

spain strike 

Try this search:

14 results

Looking at the results, pay attention to the Subjects. These are used to tag articles by topic. Do you notice useful Subjects to search with?
hint: look at result #7

237 results

spain

Subject Terms - SU ▽

Subject Terms - SU ▽

strike OR labor

AND

Go to ▼All Filters and set Language to English 

Searching a Database:  Historical Abstracts

Wildcard search:
add * to end of word		 Quaker* You'll find: Quaker, Quakers, Quakerism

 
Phrase search:
"two words" enclosed in quotes		 "Society of Friends" You'll find: "Also known as the Religious Society of Friends..."

Won't find: "They became friends after meeting in the hall of a secret society on-campus"
 
OR search:
put OR in between each word		 Quaker OR friend You'll find articles including either the word "Quaker" or the word "friend"

Database Search Tips

Key tip: use filters to refine your results

▼ All Filters :  Language • Publication Date • Subjects

Advanced Search :  Historical Period

Doing research vs.

directionless tab overload

stylized illustration of multiple browser windows, each with many open tabs

Practices for actively building knowledge while you do research

  • Create a synthesis matrix to track particular questions and claims across different articles
  • Consider using Zotero, which lets you tag your sources, add notes to them, and format citations

    (also: free storage with Swarthmore.edu email)
  • Brainstorm your research questions and take high-level notes visually using a mind map

Active Reading: Synthesis Matrix

Article/ Source #1 Article/ Source #2 Article/ Source #3
Question 1:

 
Question 2:

 
Theme 1:

 

Explore secondary sources on your own

  • Choose a possible theme or topic
  • Search for a relevant journal article or book using one of these resources:
    • Historical Abstracts
    • Tripod
    • JSTOR
  • Ask for help as you work - this is the best way to learn.

 Background image credit: Briandra Maldonado (via Unsplash)

Research Help & Advice