Home - ENGL 101 - Beggs - History Through Different Eyes - Research Guides at Modesto Junior College Library

Preliminary reading

Research questions

Evaluate your sources

Select an interesting, appropriate topic

Choose an era that you find interesting and read the sections on that era in both books.

Pay attention to a particular event, person, or institution that you may want to highlight.
Make sure these events, people, and/or institutions are adequately discussed in both books so you will have something to compare and contrast.

Do background reading on your topic

Read overview articles about your topic in Gale eBooks to learn more about it.

Gale eBooks
Use this database for preliminary reading as you start your research. You'll learn about your topic by reading authoritative topic overviews on a wide variety of subjects.

Create some research questions to focus your research and reading

Come up with some research questions that will help guide your research and reading. Below are some sample questions, but you are free to come up with your own!

Why is this topic important in the context of American history?
What are the basic background facts on my topic? (who, what, when, where)
How do my two texts differ in their description of my topic (why and how)?
How does Zinn's telling of the story reflect his values?
What sources can I find to back up the Zinn view?
How does Schweikart & Allen's telling of the story reflect their values?
What sources can I find to back up the Schweikart & Allen version?
What conclusions can I draw from exploring the same story from two different perspectives?

Start finding answers to your research questions

Look up your topic and find overviews, detailed discussions, and primary sources in our History databases.

History Study Center
Use History Study Center to learn about global history from ancient times to the present day. Contents include study units covering over 500 historical topics, reference books, essays, journal articles, historical newspaper and magazine articles, maps, rare books, government documents, transcripts of historical speeches, images and video clips.(Search Tips)
America: History and Life with Full Text
This database is an important reference tool for students and scholars of U.S. and Canadian history. It provides full-text coverage of more than 200 journals and nearly 100 books in addition to selective indexing for 1,700 journals from 1955 to present.
Issues & Controversies in History
Use this database when you want topical, in-depth coverage of world history from antiquity to the present. Read about the background, outcomes, and contemporary points of view for the major topics in history from every region of the world. This is a great database for finding primary sources.

Find academically credible web sources

Use Google Scholar to find sources written by other historians.

Find eBooks

Find eBooks for more insight on your topic.

eBooks in the eBook Collection: EBSCOhost collection can be read in their entirety online. Pages, chapters and sections can be downloaded, printed, emailed, and cited in MLA style.

eBook Collection: EBSCOhost
Use this database to search our collection of thousands of eBooks the MJC Library owns through EBSCOhost.(EBSCO eBooks Instructions)