On the lands that we study, we walk, and we live, we acknowledge and respect the traditional custodians and cultural knowledge holders of these lands.
What you can learn from this page:
When you want to research a topic from the past, it's important to have some understanding of the type of information you might expect to find in historical records.
To find out... |
Look for... |
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What happened when and where? Who was involved or affected? |
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Why were people, organisations, events, issues or movements significant? |
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What did people, places or movements look like or sound like? |
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What were people or organisations saying about events, experiences and attitudes? |
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What was the government officially saying or doing? |
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How many were involved in, produced or affected by events, movements or issues? |
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Annotated lists are a great way to keep track of your research findings. Annotating (tagging) your search results with useful notes will help you to sort and identify important information and save you time when you start writing.
Many library catalogues and databases let you create your own (free) login so you can save lists and tag your search results (sometimes called 'favourites').
When you're working with historical sources it's important to know:
You'll quickly find that not all historical information is available, or easily found, online.
Some historical topics are more in-demand than others due to popular interest (like our Harbour Bridge example below). These popular topics have a greater range of digitised material.
You may find more extensive information exists in print (hardcopy), so it’s a good idea to ask the Library!
Where and how will you look for firsthand accounts and other contemporary information from the historical era relating to your topic? You may like to practice your skills with our tutorial below.
On the lands that we study, we walk, and we live, we acknowledge and respect the traditional custodians and cultural knowledge holders of these lands.
