While historians like other academics make use of scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles, they also make use of books (in print or electronic formats), and many kinds of primary sources ranging from textual documents, images, broadcasts and artifacts. Some of these resources may be found using online search engines.
It is important to evaluate your sources, to ensure that you are relying upon appropriate resources rather than questionable ones. Secondary sources should be scholarly rather than popular.
A helpful tool to analyze resources is the PARCA Test, sometimes called the CRAAP Test. These are virtually the same tools, with elements presented in different order.
A very helpful description of the PARCA Test was created by York University as part of its Student Papers & Academic Reseach Kit. The link will open a PDF version of the PARCA Test.
Students enrolled in Arts and Social Sciences are all introduced to Library Research Skills as part of their common first-year platform course SSH 205 Academic Writing and Research.
If you have not taken this course, you may want to review the TMU Library's SSH 205 Library Instruction LibGuide. This guide uses five modules to help researchers understand the research process and analytical skills that will help the reader succeed in undergraduate studies.