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HIST 9: Native American History & Public Practices (Lovely, Fall 2025): Background Information

Native American History and Public History Practices

Reference Sources for U.S. History

Scholarly articles in encyclopedias and companions are excellent sources for background information. To find these, use UC Library Search and type (encyclopedias or companions) AND [your topic]. 

  • "indian removal act" AND (encyclopedias or companions)
  • "american indians" OR "native americans" AND (encyclopedias or companions)
  • "pacific northwest" AND (encyclopedias or companions)
  • ceremon* AND (encyclopedias or companions)

Use quotation marks to search your terms as a phrase.

Use the asterisk wildcard * to search for all variant endings to a word: ceremony, ceremonies, ceremonial

From your results list, you can limit to Books (to find encyclopedias on your topic) or Reference Entries (to find relevant articles within other encyclopedias).

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, use UC Library Search and type in a word or phrase that represents your general topic, along with the word biographies, modeling from the examples below:

  • "united states" AND women AND biographies
  • biographies AND "native americans"
  • biographies AND immigra* AND "united states"

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

Use the asterisk * wildcard to search all variant endings of your word: immigra* finds immigrate, immigrated, immigrates, immigration, immigrant, immigrants

When you get your results select Resource Type > Books from the left toolbar.

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