History: World: Background Information

Broad, comprehensive companions and handbooks, from respected publishers, provide excellent overviews to key historic eras and events. To find these, type your topic into UC Library Search and include one or both of the above words. 

Use quotation marks to search your term as a complete phrase.

The asterisk wildcard * searches for all variant endings to a word: postcolon* will search for postcolonial, postcolonialism, postcolonialists, postcolonialisation, postcolonialization.

          "history of medicine" AND (companion OR handbook)                   

          "imperial china" AND companion

           postcolon* AND companion AND empire

Biographical dictionary and encyclopedia entries can give you brief, authoritative information on the lives of noted individuals throughout history, as well as guidance for further reading. To find biographies in UC Library Search and type in a word or phrase that represents your general topic, along with the word biographies.  Use quotation marks to search as a phrase. Examples:

india AND women AND biographies

biographies AND medieval AND germany

Historical atlases allow you to see the geographical connections between peoples and events. Gazetteers are geographical dictionaries that provide concise descriptions and locations of places. These resources can be invaluable for understanding the spatial context of events and data in historical research.

To find these, use UC Library Search and type in a word or phrase that represents your general topic. Then in the second line, type the word "atlas" OR "maps" or any other word that represents the type of item you want.