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HY 429 Studies in Latin American History: Latin American Revolutions: Monographs

This guide was created to support Dr. Urban's HY 429 course in Fall 2024.

What are Monographs?

Monographs are books written by (usually) one expert author. Monographs are expected to be of high research quality and scholarly value.

At least 3 sources for your paper must be monographs.

How to Find Monographs through the Library

Physical and Electronic Books

You can search the entire library catalog for physical and electronic books all at once through OneSearch.

OneSearch can be accessed at the Marx Library homepage.

Screenshot of OneSearch search menu. The "Peer Reviewed" and "In Library Collection" boxes are checked.

Once you submit a search, you can see the search results page.

Screenshot of a search bar with Latin America as the search term.

I can limit my source type by selecting Books and/or eBooks.

Screenshot of search results. Under the "Source type" drop-down menu, "eBooks" and "Books" are selected.

 

 

 

How to Find E-Books Outside the Library

There are Open Educational Resource books that can be accessed online for free. You will need to carefully evaluate the quality of the monographs you find before using them.

How to Find Physical Books

The book's call number tells you where the book is physically located in the library.

In OneSearch, you can look at a book's record for the call number.

Screenshot of a search return for a book. The status, location, and call number information are included.

The call number starts with F. Our bookshelves are labeled with ranges. Find the F section, then look for the range of numbers this call number falls in.

Books are placed together by topic. Browse for other physical books in a subject you like!

 

Evaluating Academic Book Quality

Books should be evaluated for academic quality.

  • Authorship - Book authors should have expertise and authority in the subject. This can be shown by:
    • A doctoral degree in the discipline. Most authors you can search online to see their educational background.
    • An association with an educational institution like a University or a research organization.
  • Publisher - An academic publisher is not necessary, but it is a good sign.
  • Proof of research - There should be a list of sources the author used to write their work. They might be listed at the end of each chapter, in footnotes, or at the end of the entire book.
  • Reviews - A scholarly book may have book reviews published in academic journals. You can find book reviews by searching databases like Academic Search Complete with the book's title.

History Book Quality and Topic Evaluation