Find books written
during the time period studied

Search the library catalogue for your topic using a keyword search;

Research question: what was written about the Japanese during World War II (1939-1945)

1. type in your topic in the keyword box
   
   e.g. japan or japanese
2. 2. enter the year or range of years in the publication year box (pubyear)
   
   e.g. 1939-1945

Autobiographies, diaries, memoirs,
letters, interviews

• If you know the name of the individual perform a Keyword search; enter the name of the individual and add ” and autobiography” in the keyword box.
  
  Example

• Enter the name of the individual in the keyword box and in the subject box add some of the following subheadings that identify primary sources:
  • Biography
  • Correspondence
  • Letters
  • Diaries
  • Interviews
  • Personal narratives

Example,

Note: Searching for biography in the subject field will result in both biographies (books written about a person by others) and autobiographies (books written by the person about their life). For help in identifying which record is a primary source, ask a librarian.

Speeches

Conduct a keyword search; enter the name of the speaker or topic in the keyword box and enter speeches in the subject box.

Example: (politics or politicians) and (Canada or Canadian) and speeches

Collection of primary sources on a topic

Conduct a keyword search and type in your topic in the keyword box; in the subject box type in the subject headings history and sources

Example,

Photographs, posters

Conduct a keyword search; enter your topic in the keyword box and in the subject box, enter pictorial works or posters

Example, world war and 1939 and canada

Pamphlets

Conduct a keyword search; enter your topic in the keyword box and under Search Limits change the itemtype to Pamphlet

Fiction written
from a specific time period

Consult the following print sources to identify titles:

Fiction Catalog Z5196 F4 (Scott Reference, Scott)

Short Story Index Z 5917 S5 C62 (Scott Reference, Frost Reference)

Play Index Z 5781 P53 (Scott Reference, Frost Reference)

See also the Primary Source Material section of the Literature Research Guide.

Films

Search the Film Indexes Online to identify titles of films made from 1900 to the present. Then perform a Browse Search by title in the library catalogue to see if the library owns a copy of the film.