This guide is intended to assist students writing papers for World History classes and other related disciplines. It suggests print and Internet resources available, but it is by no means a comprehensive list of all materials available in the Library but is a representative sample. For information on American History, please refer to the guide on that subject.
The Online Catalog is an excellent place to start your research. It will allow you to identify books in the Davis Memorial Library about your topic in World History.The Online Catalog is available from any Internet accessible computer at http://davislibrary.methodist.edu/. Use the Keyword search to locate materials. Type in the concepts you are looking for, using "and" to combine terms (e.g. roman and customs).
Electronic databases are used to identify journal, magazine, or newspaper articles on a particular topic. Some databases are designated as full-text, which means that the whole text of the article is available in that database. You can print, save, or email that article. When using a database or any other tool in the Library, always write down the full citation to an article (author, article title, journal title, volume, issue, date, and pages) so you will have this information for your bibliography. If the article is not available with full-text try Journal Finder to see if articles from that journal are available in another database or in print in the Library.
Academic Search Premier is a general database with many full-text articles included. It is a good place to look for almost all world history topics, so start your research for journals here. Also, select the "Scholarly" button to limit your results to scholarly, academic, peer-reviewed, and/or refereed journals. If you are looking for a book review of a specific title, search on the name of the book. You can identify book reviews usually since the word “book” is given after the title. Remember to use Journal Finder for articles that do not have full-text included.
Arts & Humanities Search, with its publications indexed numbering over 1,100, is a key database to search in the areas of arts and humanities. The database covers information from 1980 to the present and is updated weekly.
Project MUSE is a full-text database with articles going back to 1993. Journals may be browsed or searched. Results are organized by relevance (number of times the terms searched match in the text), so there may be results that are not on target for your search. Revise your search and try again.
Use WorldCat to search for books. The database accesses library holdings from around the world, giving the user information about the book including which library or libraries own it.
Online Books and Document Collections
Gale Virtual Reference Library
Historic Events of the 20th Century
North American Women's Letters and Diaries
The Reference section of the Library is a good place to develop possible topics, begin your research, and find critical pieces of information to finish your project. Try some of the following titles for information.
| Title | Location |
| General | |
| Atlas of Exploration | Atlas 911 A881 1999 |
| Atlas of World Archaeology | R 930.109 A881 2000 |
| Atlas of World History | Atlas 911 A881 1999 |
| Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History | R 903 B513 2001 v1-5 |
| Cassell's Chronology of World History | R 909 E723c2005 |
| Chambers Dictionary of World History | R 903 C444 2000 |
| Chronology of World History | R 902.02 M526c 1999 v. 1-4 |
| Dictionary of Twentieth Century World History | R 909.82 P179d 1997 |
| Dictionary of World History | R 903 D554 2006 |
| Encyclopedia of Archaeology | R 930.1 E56 2001 v. 1-3 |
| Encyclopedia of Invasions and Conquests | R 355.003 D263e 2006 |
| Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions | R 903 E56 1998 |
| New Cambridge Modern History | R 940.2 N532 v. 1-12 |
| 100 Decisive Battles | R 904.5 D263o 1999 |
| Oxford Dictionary of World History | R 903 D554 2000 |
| Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia: World History | R 909 O98 |
| Visual History of the World | R 902.02 N277 2005 |
| Ancient History | |
| Cambridge Dictionary of Classical Civilization | R 938.003 C178 2006 |
| Dictionary of the Ancient Near East | R 939.4 D554 2000 |
| Encyclopedia of Women in the Ancient World | R 305.409 S167e 2001 |
| Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Post Classical World | R 938.003 L351 1999 |
| Oxford Classical Dictionary | R 938 O98 |
| Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | R 949.503 O98 v. 1-3 |
| Who Was Who in the Roman World | R 920.057 W628 |
| Who's Who in the Greek World | R 920.038 H429w 2000 |
| African History | |
| Africana | R 960.03 A258a 2005 v. 1-5 |
| Book of the Pharaohs | R 932.01 V544d 2003 |
| Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century African History | R 960.3103 E56 2002 |
| Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt | R 932 O98 2001 v. 1-3 |
| Asian History | |
| Cambridge History of China | R 951.03 C178 v.10-15 |
| Cambridge History of Japan | R 952 C178 v. 1-6 |
| Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture | R 950 C726 2000 |
| Encyclopedia of Asian History | R 950 E53 1988 v. 1-4 |
| Encyclopedia of India> | R 954.003 E56 2005-v. 1-4 |
| Encyclopedia of Modern Asia | R 950.03 E56 2002 v. 1-6 |
| Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World | R 909.04942 B928h 2003 |
| Japan Encyclopedia> | R 952.003 L888j 2002 |
| Modern China | R 951.05 H973m 2001 |
| European History | |
| Atlas of the Medieval World | R 909.07 M158t 2004 |
| British Political Leaders | R 941.009 B862 2001 |
| The D-Day Atlas | R 940.54 M583d 2004 |
| Dictionary of National Biography (British) | R 920.042 D554a v. 1-33 |
| Dictionary of the Middle Ages | R 909.07 D 554 v. 1-13 |
| Dictionary of Twentieth Century European History | R 940.503 T746d 1997 |
| Encyclopaedia of the Viking Age | R 948.022 H427e 2000 |
| Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe | R 940.103 F843e 2003 |
| Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe | R 947.003 E54 2000 |
| Encyclopedia of the Crusades | R 909.07 A556e 2003 |
| Encyclopedia of World War II | R 940.5303 E56 2005 v. 1-5 |
| The First World War: Europe, 1914-1918 | R 940.3 N624l 2000 |
| Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance | R 940.21 R941h 1999 |
| Longman Handbook of Early Modern Europe 1453-1763 | R 940.2 C771l 2001 |
| Oxford Companion to World War II | R 940.5303 O98 2005 |
| Oxford History of England | R 942 O98 v. 1-15 |
| Tudor England: An Encyclopedia | R 942.05 T912 2001 |
| Who's Who in Europe, 1450-1750 | R 920.04 K15w 2000 |
| Latin American History | |
| Historical Atlas of Central America | Atlas 911.728H174h 2003 |
| Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures | R 972.01 O98 2001 v. 1-3 |
| Middle Eastern History | |
| Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East | R 956.0403 C762 2002 |
| Encyclopedia of the Palestinians | R 956.94 E56 2000 |
| Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World | R 909.0976 O98 v. 1-4 |