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History 7A - History of the United States to 1877

BCC Library Hours

Summer 2025

June 16 - July 24

In-person and Online
Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 4:30pm

Tips for starting your research

Understand the assignment

  • What type of assignment is it? Research paper, personal essay, opinion paper, or other?
  • How long does the paper need to be?
  • Do you need to use specific types of sources such as newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals or websites?
  • How many sources do you need?
  • Which citation style are you going to use for your bibliography? MLA, APA, Chicago or other?

Choose a topic

  • Think about a topic that might interest you, you know something about, or you feel strongly about.
  • Find a topic in your textbook, a class reading or class discussion.