Getting started: encyclopedias and dictionaries that provide background information.

Thoughts on the Research Process: Suggestions for asking questions, developing a research plan, and evauating resources

Finding Books: suggestions for finding books at Appalachian State University, UNC-Asheville, and Western Carolina University (WNCLN Catalog).

Finding Articles: suggested databases for finding journal, magazine, and newspaper articles.

Primary Sources: suggested library and online collections to primary source material. Includes information on finding primary sources in the library catalog and on the web.

Research Help: includes tutorials on library services, evaluation of resources, avoiding plagiarism, as well as tools for composing a list of works cited and links to writing websites and manuals.

• AppalNet
• AsULearn
• Course Reserves
• University Writing Center

Subject encyclopedias and dictionaries are good starting points for identifying key figures and concepts.

Electronic Encyclopedias and Dictionaries:

• Biography In Context 
  Provides full-text biographies of individuals.​Credo Reference: 

• Hundreds of encyclopedias. Search for an overview of your topic

• Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History
  ONLINE & ASU MAIN STACKS E169.1.E624 2001
  Volume one covers early America through 1940. Volume two covers 1940-2000 and volume three focuses on economic order, social order, the pursuit of knowledge, the arts, and methods and concepts.

• Encyclopedia of American Social History
  ONLINE & ASU MAIN STACKS HN57.E58 1993
  Includes essays on the history of social change in the United States. There is a bibliography at the end of each essay.