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Life and Death in the Atlantic World

Reference works for methodologies

Finding primary documents

Primary documents can be found abundantly by using any standard web search engine like Google. However, Encompass or WorldCat (see description below) can be good sources for primary documents published in book form.

One excellent website offering access to primary documentation is Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, sponsored by Emory University and others.

Our library subscribes to a primary documents database called Early English Books Online, covering up to 1700, and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO).

The Pennsylvania Gazette, available online by library subscription. served as the paper of record in the 18th and early 19th century in the British colonies and early U.S.

Google Books contains a wealth of pre-copyright (pre-1923) materials.

See also the footnotes of secondary sources, which often will point to primary documentation.

Authoritative secondary commentary in books

Authoritative secondary commentary in articles

Websites more likely to be scholarly

Sample book reviews

Citing sources

For tips on citing print and electronic sources, visit Trexler Library's Citation Guides for Print and Electronic Resources.

Or visit the Online Writing Lab at Purdue.

For automated citation, try the shareware Zotero. Directions for installing Zotero here.

For help with annotated bibliographies, visit Purdue's Online Writing Lab for definitions and format of an annotation.

Articles and books via interlibrary loan

Articles and books not found in Trexler Library can be ordered on interlibrary loan.