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7. Using the Internet to Find History Bibliographies



Bibliographical research using the Internet will lead you to two kinds of materials. Not only will you find citations to printed bibliographies; there are on-line bibliographies as well. Perhaps some of the former will be available to you in your college or university library, a large research library nearby, the local public library, or a local book store. On-line bibliographies will be more convenient, and many are excellent. On the other hand, some of the best bibliographies are only available in hard copy because of copyright considerations. Serious scholars will want to consult all available resources in whatever form.

One way to find bibliographical information on the Internet is to use one of the several search engines available. For example, using AltaVista, type "history bibliographies" in its search box. Include the quotation marks. This will yield about 125 entries. For examples of both kinds of bibliographical data on the Internet, do an AltaVista search as indicated above. Early in the list is an item titled, Bibliographies in Middle Eastern History. There is a list of printed bibliographies. Scroll down to the one titled, "Women in the Middle East," and you will find an item titled, Women in the Ancient Near East: A Select Bibliography of Recent Sources in the Oriental Institute Research Archives (1992). You will probably need to use several search engines to find bibliographies of interest to you.

Another way to find bibliographies is with subject directories. For example, using American and British History Resources, select Bibliographies from the links on the left-hand side of the screen. Scroll down to "American and British History Bibliographies." Select Interpreting McCarthyism: A Bibliographic Essay by Ellen Schrecker. It is excerpted from The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford Books, 1994). Fairly often, one will find bibliographies buried within history Web sites. (See, for example, "The Richard III Society: American Branch Homepage" below.)

Library of Congress Catalog. This is in some respects the ultimate bibliography, as most titles that exist about a subject are in the LC.

Another source of bibliographical information is on-line bookseller's catalogs. One is Amazon.com Books!. Another is Barnes & Noble. You can browse by subject in either one. The advantage to using these catalogs is that you can (in some instances) read reviews, see tables of contents, and, should you be interested in purchasing books in in your research subject area, see what titles are probably in print and their price.

Example: In the catalog Amazon.com Books!, do a subject search, entering the term "Alamo." On November 10, 1997, there were 77 titles displayed. These catalogs include titles that may not be in print..


A Sampling of On-line Bibliographies


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