HIS-336 Vietnam War : Home

This guide will help you find the sources for your paper. From your assignment description:

You must use both primary and secondary sources in your research paper.  You must use at least six (6) secondary sources and at least two (2) primary sources.

Possible primary sources include:

• Letters
• Diaries, Journals, and Memoirs
• Contemporary Newspapers and Periodicals
• Congressional Records and Other Government Documents
• The Pentagon Papers
• Contemporary Artwork and Music
• Contemporary Literature

However, you may only use sources available on websites maintained by the Library of Congress, the National Archives, presidential libraries, the United States armed forces, colleges and universities, research libraries, museums, and historical societies.  Sources on any other type of website require my approval.

Your secondary sources must be scholarly books and articles.

Finding Primary Sources

Books are a really good place to find primary sources like letters and diaries, and the library book catalog has a special trick that opens up access to a lot at once: Library of Congress Subject Headings. You can try searching in the catalog for a Vietnam topic or person and the word "diary," "letters," or "correspondence."  In the result list, click on a book title, and then see if the subject headings describe what you're looking for. If so, clicking on it will open a whole new list of books that are exactly what you need.

Below are some hyperlinked examples of subject headings you might find:

Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Personal narratives

Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Personal narratives, American

Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Sources

Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Campaigns—Sources

Vietnam—History—1945-1975—Sources

Vietnam War, 1961-1975—United States—Sources

Vietnam—Foreign relations—United States—Sources

United States—Foreign relations—Vietnam—Sources

Vietnam War, 1961-1975—United States—Airmen—Correspondence  

Whatever your topic, try adding the below words to your search-- the Library of Congress uses these in combination with topic words (such as "Vietnam War") to describe primary sources:

• Sources
• Personal narratives
• Correspondence
• Interviews
• Diaries
• Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
• Speeches

The library book catalog is also a great place to find secondary sources in the form of books and book chapters on your topic.

To find scholarly articles (secondary sources), try the below library databases. Also see short how-to videos at the top of the column to the right.

 Proquest is also great for current and historic newspaper articles-- primary sources!

You can do a Google Advanced Search in the .gov and .mil domains to find government reports and other information on your topic. 

Click to open in YouTube.

Find primary sources in the library catalog using Library of Congress Subject Headings

Find scholarly articles in EBSCO

Find scholarly or newspaper articles in Proquest

Find scholarly articles or book chapters in JSTOR

Google Advanced Search for .mil and .gov and other domains