This library guide has been designed for students enrolled in Dr. Matthew Carroll's Honors 270 Seminar.

To access information on specific topics please click on the tabs above.

Your assignment requires you to learn more about your ancestors not just as individuals, but as participants in culture, history, and community. What world, national, and local events impacted their lives - or how did your ancestors impact these events? What was the role of their occupations in their respective societies and what type of status did they have? What economic opportunities and constraints did your ancestors have? How might the geography of their country have influenced their ways of life? These are only a few questions you might ask yourself to frame your research and paper. This guide will take you through some of the sources you can use to find these answers, but roughly, you will likely go in this order:

Start: Encyclopedias. (These will give you historical timelines, important events and people, years that borders changed - and keywords you can use for further research.)

Next: Books. (These will give you broader, but more in-depth studies on your chosen nation or region.)

And then: Articles. (These will give you a very specific look into a topic, for example the role of a particular occupation in a culture or nation.)