English 60
Finding Literature on an Historical Event or Time Period
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The resources below can help you source 3 pieces of literature for your essay. Once you've found individual pieces of literature you'll want to search Discovery to see if it's available in print or eBook format. If the Selkirk College Library doesn't have the book you're looking for then the next best bet is to search one of the public libraries.
Suggested keywords to use when searching for literature:
- Residential schools, Canada, fiction
- Chinese Canadian fiction
- Japanese internment camps, Canada, fiction
- Japanese relocation, Canada, fiction
- World war, Canada, fiction
- Halifax Explosion, fiction
- Canadian War MuseumTo find reading lists:
Click on Learn, scroll down to Canada and the First World War, click teacher resources, and then scroll to Book List. - Castlegar Public LibraryYou can sign up for a borrower card on their website if you have a Castlegar address.
- CBC BooksAn excellent source for finding Canadian literature.
- Good ReadsGoodreads is the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. Our mission is to help people find and share books they love.
- GoogleA great place to start your search for literature on a Canadian historical period.
- Japanese Candian HistoryFor reading suggestions:
Click Other Resources and then Intermediate books/novels. - Nelson Public LibraryIf you have a Nelson address the Nelson Public library will allow you to sign up for a borrower card online.
You can then use the library to borrow print and ebooks. As well, you can access Library 2 Go, a Provincially run e-book service to borrow e-books. - War Time Canada - PoetryDigitized poems about the World Wars.
- WorldcatUse Worldcat to search for literature. Use the subject headings to find further sources.
Historical Event or Time Period Background Research
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The first place to search for Canadian History is in Discovery which you can find on the library home page at library.selkirk.ca. Click on advanced search and in the search boxes enter your keywords.
For example, if your literature is about residential schools you can enter the following keywords in the first search box:
residential schools
Note: you'll notice as you type keywords in Discovery it offers you synonym suggestions. If you use their synonym suggestions you will broaden your search results. If you don't use their synonym suggestions then you can use one of the keywords or phrases.
In the second search box you can enter:
Canada
You can then enter another keyword in the third box if there is something more specific you are looking for.
Currently Discovery is set up so e-books and print books will show up at the top of the search results. You may want to use the limiters under the search box on the search results page to limit to a specific resource type. Click on All filters and under Source Type choose the type of resource you'd like.
If you are looking for an Academic Peer Reviewed Article then use the Limiter to select Academic Journals
Below are some individual databases and websites you may want to use for your research.
- Canada Commons This link opens in a new windowExtensive coverage of Canadian materials with:
25,000 Ebooks from scholarly and independent publishers
180,000 Public Policy Papers from Think Tanks and Government Sources
Over 200,000 titles available now; new titles added daily!
A 4,000 entry directory of Canadian research and government organizations - Canadian Encyclopedia This link opens in a new windowCanada's national, interactive encyclopedia covering all branches of knowledge. Articles are available in English and French. Multimedia content includes images, maps, games, audio and video.
- Curio.ca This link opens in a new windowStreaming audio and video content from CBC and Radio-Canada. Provides access to thousands of programs and documentaries with English and French-language content.
- Encyclopedia of British Columbia (KnowBC) This link opens in a new windowEBC is the definitive reference work on BC people, places and things. Includes more than 4,000 articles as well as photographs, maps, charts and tables, and sound & video clips. Hosted on KnowBC.
- Historica Canada Heritage MinutesThe Heritage Minutes are a collection of bilingual Canadian 60-second short films, each depicting a significant person, event or story in Canadian history. First released in 1991, they have been shown on television, in cinemas and online, and have become a part of Canadian culture.
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowJSTOR is a full-text archival collection of core scholarly journals in the arts, humanities and sciences. Collections: Arts & Sciences l / Arts & Sciences II / Language & Literature.
- Japanese Canadian HistoryThis website and the accompanying downloadable workbooks are a learning resource on the internment of Japanese Canadians from 1942 to 1949 and the attainment of redress in 1988.
- Indigenous FoundationsA website about residential schools by the First Nations and Indigenous Studies program at UBC.
