Click here to complete the online request form to schedule an appointment to meet with your librarian. You will be asked what your research topic is and what times work best with your schedule. The appropriate subject specialist will reply to you via email.
Take a deep breath … you’re writing a senior essay, not a dissertation or a book! Here are some thoughts on keeping the process manageable throughout the coming academic year.
First, it usually takes some time at the outset to define a specific research topic. Engage with the ideas and arguments of the sources you're finding and think about where you'd like to join the scholarly conversation. Remember that the research process will often take you in unexpected directions, and that the interplay between your research questions and the sources you unearth is a cornerstone of historical research. Give yourself time to allow that interplay to happen during your senior essay research!
Some books that might prove useful:
Every subject taught at Yale has a librarian assigned to it. Those librarians curate guides with links to the most useful and important resources that are available, whether databases of primary and secondary sources, archival materials in special collections, encyclopedias and other standard "reference" works that are helpful for getting started, or freely available websites created by libraries, museums, and academic centers around the world.
For questions about library services in relation to your Senior Essay, contact James Kessenides at james.kessenides@yale.edu.