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The Vietnam Wars

This Library course guide will help students identify research related the wars in Vietnam and such concepts as imperialism, revolution, capitalism, communism, and the cold war.

Course Number: HI386

Subject: History

Greg Sennema

Research help

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Getting Started

To learn more about a Vietnam war-related topic, consider starting with one of these academic sources:

Very Short Introductions (Oxford University Press)

History of the Vietnam War (Cambridge University Press)

Encyclopedias and Handbooks

Oxford Bibliographies

The Library subscribes to Oxford Bibliographies which can lead to ideas of other sources (and remember, any academic sources should have a bibliography of additional sources you can look for). A few select bibliographies include:

Secondary Sources

While there are several ways to effectively search for secondary sources, for this course searching Omni should be enough.

Books

Articles

JSTOR

Searching JSTOR can be helpful since it searches for your terms across the entire full text of all the journal contents, not just the metadata (author, title, subject, etc.) that Omni searches. Keep in mind:

  • JSTOR has over 2000 journal titles, but the Library subscribes to many more than this outside of JSTOR, so also search Omni (and then link to the full text in other databases)
  • you can also search JSTOR for primary sources, since all the content is for the very first issue of each title
Primary Sources

A primary source is generally defined as document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study. These sources were present during an experience or time period and offer an inside view of a particular event.

Where do I find primary sources?

For this course, it is unlikely you will discover physical primary sources, but you will likely encounter surrogates of primary sources. Surrogate sources are either

  1. Analogue
    • books, microfiche, microfilm (as well as ebooks as discreet publications)
  2. Digital
    • commercial or not-for-profit databases

Analogue primary sources

In general, these will be found within published books, and you can find them searching Omni and combine your topic keywords with terms such as sources, documents, correspondence, diaries, or "personal narratives" 

e.g. "United States" AND "vietnam" AND correspondence (use "quotation marks" to search for phrases)

Results will include printed books and ebooks. 

Digital primary sources

Laurier has many commercial primary source collections, the following of which might be helpful for this course depending on your topic:

Primary sources - Newspapers and Magazines

A lot of newspaper content has been digitized and made available. A great place to start is the Library's subscription to the New York Times (1851-)

JSTOR

Current and back issues of journals in arts and sciences.

More Info

Other titles

Life Magazine

Available through Google Books, Life Magazine was the most popular and influential general news magazine from the 1940s through the 1970s. To search across all issues, go to the "Full View" for a single issue; enter your search terms, and check "Search all issues."

Time Magazine

A long-running and influential news and general interest magazine. This free archive allows you to search, browse, and view the content on the screen (i.e., no downloading options).

Primary sources - Public Collections

Various United States agencies have content in their virtual reading rooms:

Videos and Documentaries

Search Omni

Documentaries

Hollywood Films

The Library has a large collection of feature films. The following titles are available via streaming unless otherwise noted:

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