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Key Databases

How to find historiographies

Historiographies are published more commonly as article-length than as book-length works. Generally, use broader search terms when searching for books.

  • Some scholarly articles available through Historical Abstracts are historiographical in nature. Consider ANDing in the word historiography (which is a subject), e.g.
       revolution* AND historiography
    Broaden out the search by ORing in "review essay":
       revolution* AND (historiography OR "review essay")
  • The following journals frequently include historiographies. They are indexed in Historical Abstracts.
    • "History Compass publishes peer-reviewed articles on the most important research and thinking across the entire discipline, with no restrictions in terms of geography, time period or historical methodology."
    • Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature
    • History & Theory
  • Dissertators are expected to do thorough literature reviews. The lit reviews of some dissertations in history qualify as historiographies. Search for dissertations in Dissertations and Theses Full Text.
  • Some reference sources in the series "Oxford Handbook", "Oxford Bibliographies", "Cambridge Companion", "Blackwell Companions", etc. may include historiographies. Example: Nineteenth-century France. Search for them in Compass including one of the series titles, e.g.
       (france or french) AND "Oxford Bibliographies"
  • Search in Compass and WorldCat, including the word historiography. You may need to use more general search terms, e.g.
       (france OR french) AND historiography

Subject Guide