Guides: HIST 298: Early Modern Empires: Home

Getting started

British History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Aug 29, 2024 502 views this year
Medieval and Early Modern European History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Aug 29, 2024 409 views this year
World History
by Kristen Howard Last Updated Aug 21, 2024 317 views this year

Find primary sources

Pre-approved Sources

Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North-America (1761). [French empire]
Jean-Baptiste Labat, Nouveau voyage aux isles de l'Amerique (1724). [French empire]
John Smith, A Description of New England (1616). [British empire]
Henry Blount, A Voyage into the Levant (1638). [British empire]
Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789). [British empire]
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, The First New Chronicle and Good Government (1615/2009). [Spanish empire]
Duarte Lopes, Filippo Pigafetta, and Thomas Fowell Buxton, A Report of the Kingdom of Congo and fo the Surrounding Countries (1969). [Portuguese empire]
Çelebi Evilya, Narratives of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa (1834-50; 2 vols). [Ottoman empire]

Find other Primary Sources

Interested in finding a travel narrative about a specific location published during the early modern period? Try one of these methods:

By keyword:

Search the catalogue by combining the following keywords: (1) the location or empire you are interested in, (2) terms indicating travel writing, and (3) a term indicating the time period if necessary. Examples:
China AND ("travel writing" OR "travel narrative*) AND "early modern"
Mughal AND ("travel writing" OR travel narrative*)
Note that: Not all of the results will be primary sources! Be sure to critically assess if a result is a primary source.

Building a Search Strategy for HIST 298
Step-by-step instructions for building a search strategy! This is useful for searching for primary OR secondary sources.

By subject:

Subject headings use the phrase "description and travel" to indicate travel narratives and travel books. Try searching for a travel narrative by combining the location you are interested in with the phrase "description and travel" and searching only in the subject field using su: Examples:
su: Turkey "description and travel"
su: China "description and travel"
Further tip: most results will not be focused on the early modern period! Consider filtering by publication year, or sorting results from oldest to newest (both features available on the lefthand side of the catalogue).

Digital Collections

Women's Voices and Life Writing, 1600-1968
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The resource brings together diaries and oral histories to enable students and researchers to explore the lives of hundreds of individuals from diverse backgrounds, from abolitionists to suffragists, and royalty to republicans. Vivid narratives cover a wide range of themes, including domestic life, travel, sport, feminism, gender fluidity, and class with the collection providing a platform for working class, LGBTQ+, and disabled women’s voices.
Eighteenth Century Collections (Gale Primary Sources)
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Full-text searchable database including books, pamphlets, essays, broadsides published in the UK and elsewhere during the 18th century. Based on the English Short Title Catalogue and primarily in English but also includes other languages. The content of this database is available for text-mining through Gale Digital Scholar Lab

Find secondary sources

Find journal articles

Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)
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This contains references to journal articles, book reviews and some dissertations about the history of all parts of the world from 1450 on, EXCLUDING Canada and the United States. In the search options, select "Peer Reviewed" and enter "Historical Period" (e.g., Start Year: 1850 To End Year: 1917).
America: History and Life (EBSCO)
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Provides historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from over 2,000 journals published worldwide.

Find books

Library Catalogue

Citations

History as a discipline uses the Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition) for citations, and usually the Notes-Bibliography form. This requires creating properly formatted footnotes footnotes and a Bibliography for your assignments. Resources to understand the Chicago style of citations are included below.

Note: Chicago Manual of Style will update to the 18th edition in September 2024.

HCS Guide to the Chicago Manual of Style
A guide to the Chicago Manual of Style developed for students in History and Classics (18th edition).

The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition
Publication Date: 2017
There is a copy of the current Chicago Manual of Style available for reference at the McLennan Service Desk (first floor).
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition by Kate L. Turabian
Call Number: LB2369 T8 2018
Publication Date: 2018
A guide to Chicago Manual of Style with more information on hard-to-cite or unusual sources than the original manual.

Guides

Chicago Manual of Style Citation Quick Guide
McGill Library Citation Subject Guide
Under "citation styles by subject", select "History" for more resources on Chicago style.

Library Support

Chicago Workshops
McGill Librarians offer two virtual Chicago Citation Style workshops per term. Follow this link to find and register for upcoming workshops!
Citation Management
Attend a workshop to learn how to use Zotero or EndNote, useful citation management systems. Zotero is highly recommended for History students!