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The Hulbert Taft, Jr. Library

AP European History: Post AP Summer Reading Project: Home

Your Project

Find a book (either Fiction or Nonfiction) or a journal article on a topic in European history that interests you. Write a paragraph about your book or article to share with your classmates.

FIND BOOKS / EBOOKS

RhinoCat is the Library's automated catalog of books, ebooks, and other library materials.

A keyword search using a broad term will yield the most hits. 

  • When you identify a book that looks useful, click on the book title to open the book's full record. 
    • Scroll down to Subject(s): and click on a subject heading to find other books with the same subject headings.
    • Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Browse shelf to see books that sit to the left and right on the shelf.

 

Search Library Catalog

Visit Library Catalog Page

Ebook Only Search

Use this search to find only ebooks that can be accessed via our library catalog.

Type of search?
eBooks only?
 
You can also browse and search individual ebook databases here.

Use RhinoCat Advanced Search to Find

Historical Novels (Fiction)

 
About a Country
  • Subject: Country name (or event such as World War, 1914-1918)
  • AND Subject: History
  • AND Subject: Fiction
  • Item type: Book (you can also check Electronic Resource for ebooks and audiobooks)

 
About an Historical Event
  • Do a general keyword search for an event. For example: World War I.
  • When you have identified a book on World War I in your result list, click on the title to open the full book record.
  • Scroll down to Subject(s) to find the subject heading; in this case, World War, 1914-1918.
  • Disregard any subheadings: World War, 1914-1918 -- Sources

Then do the following advanced search:

  • Subject:  World War, 1914-1918
  • AND Subject: History
  • AND Subject: Fiction
  • Item type: Book (you can also check Electronic Resource for ebooks and audiobooks)
 
About a Historical Figure
  • Subject: Person's name
  • AND Subject: Fiction
  • Item type: Book (you can also check Electronic Resource for ebooks and audiobooks)

FIND JOURNAL ARTICLES

General Search Tips for Online Subscription Databases

  • Limit results to Full Text.
    • Make sure that all the results are items you can access by limiting results to Full Text results only. Databases often include a mix of full text items and abstracts/synopses of items. Selecting Full Text helps prevent frustration.
  • Look for search terms in article titles. 
    • ​Database searches generally default to keyword. Using the drop-down list to the right of the search bar, look for title, document title, or comparable term such as newspaper Headline.
  • Use Filters.
    • Look for filters / limiters on your results page, such as Subject and Source types. This will help ensure you get only the results that you want and will make sure you don't have to wade through as many results.
  • Use AND / OR operators (also known as Boolean operators).
    • Use AND in your search when there are words that all need to be in your search results.
    • Use OR when there are two words that can be used interchangeably, but at least one of them needs to be present in your results.
    • Use NOT when you want to exclude a word from your search.
    • Examples:
      • "First World War" OR "World War I" OR "Great War" (all articles about WWI)
      • "First World War" OR "World War I" OR "Great War" AND France (Articles about WWI in France.)
      • "First World War" OR "World War I" OR "Great War" AND France AND Women (Articles about women in France in WWI.)
      • First World War OR World War OR "Great War" NOT United States (Articles about WWI everywhere but the United States.)