A. For background information on your topic, to begin a bibliography and to find experts in the field, consult:

Encyclopedias, Handbooks and Bibliographies

World War, 1914-1918
World War I: Encyclopedia. R.R. D510 .E53 2005
European Powers in the First World War:  An Encyclopedia.  R.R. D 510 .E97 1996
Historical Dictionary of World War I.  R.R. D 510 .H65 1998
Almanac of World War I.  R.R. D 522.5 .B87 1998
Dictionary of the First World War.  R.R. D 510 .P66 1995
Biographical Dictionary of World War I.  R.R. D 507 .H47 1982

By Country
Historical Dictionary of the Third French Republic, 1870-1940.  R.R. DC 337 .H57 1986
Dictionary of Modern Italian History.  R.R. DG 545 .D53
Encyclopedia Russian History. R.R. DK 14 .E53 2004
Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism.  R.R. D 217 .H57 1991
Modern Germany.  R.R. DD 14 .M64 1998

Topical
Dictionary of Art.   R.R. N 31 .D5 1996
New Grove dictionary of music and musicians.  Music Lib Ref ML 100 .N48 2001in paper as well.
Companion encyclopedia of the history of medicine. R.R. R 133 .E5 1993
Women in West European History:  Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries [a bibliogrpahy].   R.R. HQ 1587 .F7 v.2, 1914-1945.  You'll need to tease out appropriate items; does cover medicine, work, etc.
Women in World History [a biographical dictionary]. R.R. HQ 1115 .W62
International Historical Statistics, 1750-1993. R.R. HA 1107 .M5 1998

B. To identify books, videos, journals, etc. owned by St. Olaf and Carleton, consult:

Bridge

BRIDGE will offer subject access to materials on your topic (but not individual journal articles -- see below for that). Try beginning with a keyword search, finding a good item, and then using the Library of Congress Subject Headings at the bottom of the record to link to more materials on those topics. Specific headings include:

C.  For subject access to journals and newspapers, consult:

Indexes and Abstracts

 Given the plethora of on-line databases and paper indexes, it is critical that you carefully target an index which is likely to cover the appropriate journals which publish material on your topic. Additionally, you need to consider whether you want broad, general indexes which will give you a sampling of materials appearing in mainstream publications, or specialized indexes which will be comprehensive and focused. Listed below are a sample of the indexes to be found in the St. Olaf Libraries. If you can't find the type of materials you need, please consult a reference librarian to help you find your way through the maze.

Indexes to Scholarly Journals in Specific Disciplines

Historical Abstracts    The main starting point for historical research for the world except for  America and Canada. Don't skip this source. Use the Subject Heading list to focus your search and keywords to refine.
Public Affairs Information Service [PAIS] .    Indexes materials on contemporary public policy issues, ranging from global warming to human rights. PAIS covers 1972 to date; PAIS Archive, 1915-1976.
MLA International Bibliography    The major index to literature journals. Also covers articles in books. Subjects include literature, folklore, languages, and linguistics.
Art Index Indexes English-language art periodicals, plus museum bulletins, bibliographies, film reviews, and conference reports. Covers 1984 to the present.
International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) , 1874 - present. Indexes a wide variety of international music periodicals, some back to the late 1800s.
Music Index   The major index to periodical literature in the field of music. Does not include abstracts. Online database covers 1979 - present.

Multidisciplinary Index to Scholarly Publications

Academic Search Premier Indexes articles in both popular magazines and academic journals, although you can limit to one or the other. Covers 1500 core titles, many back to the mid to late 1980s. Full text of articles often an option.

D. For other sources of information, search:

Websites

There are many ways now to access the web. You have all done Google searches by now but the results are often overwhelming or unsatisfying. There's a better way to start -- by following time honored routes applied to new technologies:

Librarians' catalogs of websites:
Scout Report Reviews of web sites; searchable by keyword and Library of Congress Subject Headings
Infomine Websites "collected" by academic librarians -- full descriptions and subject headings
Librarians' Index to the Internet Aimed more at public library patrons but still useful for many topics

Gateways to Digital Collections

OAIster is an catalog of digital collections. You can choose text or image and search by keyword. It will tell you about the responsible party (authority).
Best of the History Websites
Google -- Search google with your keywords AND add "digital collections" (with quotation marks) to your search. This phrase is used by authoritative sites so it will bring up useful items. This is a better strategy than using google images.

As always, you must take care to evaluate your material . Who wrote/posted it? What are their credentials? Is the material from an academic source (scholarly publisher or .edu site on the web) or proprietary source (commercial publisher or .com site)? Is the material current for the topic? If a website, when was it last updated? Is that important? Etc. For more suggestions for evaluating websites, consult the list on the libraries' page:  Evaluating Web Sites

Useful sites for this course:

World War I document archive "This archive of primary documents from World War I has been assembled by volunteers of the World War I Military History List (WWI-L). The archive is international in focus and intends to present in one location primary documents concerning the Great War ." Contents: Conventions, Treaties, & Official Papers - Documents by Year (Pre - 1914, 1914, 1915 , 1916, 1917, 1918, post-1918) - Memorials, Personal Reminiscences - WWI Biographical Dictionary - WWI Image Archive - Special Topics and Commentaries - The Maritime War - The Medical Front - WWI Sites: Links to Other Resources. "Alan Albright and Micheal [sic] Shackelford are the artistic and historiographical designers of this folio."
World War I The World War I site contains a myriad of links to sites covering different of aspects of the war . The main topic areas by which this site organized are:
Timelines -- Primary Documents, Letters, Diaries -- Statistics and Casualities -- Diplomacy and Causes of the War -- Participating Countries -- Strategy,Weapons,Troops -- Trench Warfare -- Gas Warfare -- Military Medicine -- War in the Air and on the Sea -- Maps, Images, Art -- War Propaganda -- Spies,Espionage, Codes -- Biographies -- War in the Middle East -- Women and the Home Front -- Music and Poetry -- 1918 Flu Epidemic -- League of Nations -- Versailles Treaty -- Medal of Honor and Decorations -- After the War
BBC's World War I Materials
Imperial War Museum
gallica: la biblioteque numerique http://gallica.bnf.fr/
    Collection of documents from the Biblioteque nationale de France
Eurodocs after going through several layers, links to WWI documents and resources
Internet Modern History Sourcebook  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
Worth a look for the outline of modern history -- must have involved a great deal of discussion and compromise to create!

E. Primary sources are in print as well .

A creative imagination is your best resource for finding them -- think about what you 'd like to find and then decide how to go about getting it. Remember to watch prefaces, footnotes, and bibliographies of secondary works and watch for references to primary sources in journal indexes. But you can also find primary sources in collections or published separately. Listed below are several categories of documents, with examples to whet your appetite, and suggested strategies for finding them. Remember to discuss your needs/ desires with a reference librarian.

PRIMARY SOURCES

Sourcebooks/Collected Editions
British documents on the origins of the war, 1898-1914 .  1926.  [D505 .G68]
Historic documents of World War I.  1958.  [D505 .S7]
Readings in European international relations since 1879 .  [D394 .C64]

More of these collections may be found by searching Bridge:
By subject: "Subject Heading" SOURCES
By title keyword: DOCUMENT* or READINGS or SOURCE*

Published Memoirs/Journals/Letters/Personal Accounts/Autobiographies/Collected Papers
Yashka .  [DK265.7.B68 A3 1919]  (personal narrative, Russian female)
The cross at the front; fragments from the trenches , by Thomas Tiplady.  [D524 .T57 1917 ]  (personal narrative, British male)
World War I memories: An annotated bibliography of personal accounts published in English since 1919. [R.R. D640.A2L54 2004]

 For other sources of this type, search Bridge:
By subject: Subject Heading CORRESPONDENCE
PERSONAL NARRATIVES
REMINISCENCES
INTERVIEWS

By title keyword: MEMOIR*
AUTOBIOGRAPHY*
DIARY or DIARIES
LETTERS or CORRESPONDENCE
SPEECHES

By author (if the name is known)

"Gems of the Times"
Vorgeschichte des waffenstillstandes.  Preliminary history of the armistice .  1924.  [D641.A3 G4]  [A translation was published in London, 1920, under title: History of events immediately preceding the armistice.]

L'argot de la guerre, d'après une enquête auprès des officiers et soldats . 1918.  [ PC3747.S7 D2 ]
[French language -- Slang.   World War, 1914-1918 -- Language.]

Collier's new photographic history of the world's war, including sketches, drawings and paintings made by artists at the front. Photographs by the official photographers accompanying each army, collected and arranged by Franics J. Reynolds and C. W. Taylor . 1918.  [D527.C69]

France. Ministère des affaires étrangère. The deportation of women and girls from Lille . [Translated textually
from the note addressed by the French government to the governments of neutral powers on the
conduct of the German authorities toward the population of the French departments in the occupation
of the enemy. With extracts from other documents, annexed to the note, relating to German branches of
international law during 1914, 1915, 1916. 1917?  [D639.D5 F8]

Le Chemin des Dames. [Michelin].  1920.  [D528.C5]

For other sources of this type, search Bridge using:
Appropriate subject headings and then limit your search to the appropriate years of publication

CONTEMPORARY POPULAR SOURCES

International Index to Periodicals . 1907-1965 R.R. AI 3 .R47
An index to more scholarly and less popular journals.
Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals, 1824-1900 R.R. AI 3. H6
The Times (London).  At Carleton on microfilm.  The index reaches back to 1790.

F. For guides and samples of citations in Turabian style, consult the Library's Citation Guides page.