HIST 370 - Modern Middle East: Books and Library Holdings

Primary sources include a variety of materials written or created during the time period of the topic you are researching.

Primary Sources Online: Finding, Evaluating, and Using from the American Library Association

Library collections include primary sources in a variety of formats. Most of those in the Hope College Libraries are in book form. In some cases, the content of the book has been transferred to microfiche or a special type of microfiche known as ultrafiche.

One method for finding books that may be considered primary sources is to search PRIMO using keywords that describe your topic in combination with the following terms:

• sources;
• personal narratives;
• diaries;
• correspondence;
• interviews;
• church records and registers;
• sermons;
• early works;
• wills;
• photographs.

Remember that you may need to think about your topic broadly to find primary sources using this method. After actually looking at the source you will know whether or not it effectively addresses your specific topic.

Here is the online library catalog.  You can use it to locate any materials owned by Van Wylen library, like books, journals, DVDs, etc.

Still need more?  If you aren't finding all the materials you need in HopeCAT and MELcat, try searching in Worldcat, a combined catalog for thousands of libraries worldwide.  These materials can then be requested through ILL.

Example Keyword searches:

turkey islam

Arab-Israeli Conflict

Modern middle east (published from 2016-2021) (books and media search)

Middle East (genre: sources) (books and media search)

Tunisia uprising

Example Subject heading searches:

Arab Spring -- 2010

Middle East -- Foreign Relations -- United States

Middle East -- History

Arab countries -- Politics and government -- 21st century

Palestinian Arabs -- Politics and Government

Egypt -- History -- Sources

Tunisia -- Demonstrations, 2010-

Turkey -- History -- Sources

Lebanon -- Politics and government

Arab countries -- Politics and government

Searching Tips

• Try different groups of keywords to see what different kinds of results you get

• From the results, click on a title that looks interesting; your search terms will show up in red.

• Look for Subject headings in the record that match your topic and try searching under these as a subject search.

• If you click on one of the subject headings links in a record, it will bring up a list of similar subjects that might also be helpful.

• Not finding many books on your topic?  After trying a search, look for the button to do the same search in MeLCat, a joint catalog for libraries throughout Michigan.