What are the most important words or ideas for your topic or research question? Spend 3-5 minutes brainstorming synonyms or other possible words or phrases that people might use to discuss your topic. Write down as many words as you can before you start searching the databases. Use Google to help if you can't think of any synonyms! 

Try different combinations of your keywords when you're searching.

World War II (also try WWII, World War 2, world war, war)

Name of country/area (US, United States, Great Britain, England, London, France, Germany, etc)

Concentration camp

POW camp, prisoner of war camp, Bataan Death march, treatment

internment camp

D-Day, Normandy, Invasion of Normandy

Native American code talker, Navajo code talker, code talker

Tuskegee airmen, pilots 

African American,  Black, minority

pilots, airmen, soldiers, military, fighters

"Rosie the Riveter", women working, women work, women home front, women contributions (try woman also)

Manhattan Project, making atom bomb, atomic bomb

Nuremburg Tirals, war crimes, war criminals, Axis crimes/criminals, military criminals/crimes

Japanese American internment camps, relocation, exclusion act, prejudice, Asian Americans

industry, industrial, finance, economy, military industrial complex, war production, factories

Try different combinations of your keywords in the search box in each database. You'll get different results, so experiment with your keywords. Enter your keywords in the search box. All your results will show in a list. You can narrow down your search further by selecting a document type, publication title, or subject using the menus on the right side of your results.

Login Note: Many of these are Douglas County Library databases. If you are not on campus, you will need a library card number to log in. 

Gale Databases (eBooks, Opposing Viewpoints, Global Issues, Biography)

Search: type your keywords in the search box.

Your results will be organized into categories:

• Viewpoint Essays: Present each side of an issue or debate

• References: reference books (or chapters/sections of books)

• Academic Journals: articles from specialized scholarly journals; usually highly reliable for research

• Primary Sources

• Images

• Biographies

• Statistical Resources

• Magazines: full text articles from popular magazines

• Newspapers: full text articles from newspapers with multiple perspectives

After you click on a result, LOOK at the right side of the screen for similar articles/chapters and other keyword ideas.

SAVE your results to NOODLETOOLS and your Google Drive using the buttons in the toolbar! (Do NOT use the URL to save your results!)

eBooks Tips:

• The title in blue at the top of the page is the book you are looking at. You're actually looking at a chapter or section in that book that matches your search results. 

• If you click on the blue title, you can see the entire book. 

• Check the table of contents or index to see if other sections of this book have the information you need. Just click to go straight to the section or page you want!

World History Online (and the other Infobase history databases): 

Categorizes search results by Articles, Primary Sources, Images, Videos, and News. Look at the tags on articles to find new keywords and search ideas. 

CITE your results in NOODLETOOLS. Then email yourself the article, or download it and upload it to your Google Drive. (Do NOT use the URL to save your results!)

(Save to Google Drive button doesn't work very well here--try it out, but test it to see if it works before you move on.)

If you use a website, make sure it's a credible, reliable source. Look at the organization--museums, colleges, and legitimate historical organizations are best. Make sure there are experts in modern history behind the information. Databases are the most reliable places to find information, but some websites might be accepted by your teacher. Below are some good websites you might use.

General WWII Sources: Navigate around or search these websites for a wide variety of useful information

U.S. Army Center of Military History -  Primary sources, featured articles, and links to the Army History magazine.

The National WWII Museum - Explore by Topic page

WWI and WWII Photographs - National Archives

Stories, World War II - Imperial War Museum (use the search bar to search Stories)

National Museum of the US Air Force - info on aircraft, weapons, pilots, battles and events in the Pacific and Europe, and more.

Industry, Production, and the Home Front:

War Production - PBS, Ken Burns (This PBS documentary is excellent--use the tabs at the top to explore more aspects for your topic. If you're interested, there's a whole film this website is based on.)

During WWII, Industries Transitioned from Peacetime to Wartime Production - US Dept. of Defense

Innovating for Victory - National WWII Museum

Family -  PBS, Ken Burns (inc. information and first-person narratives from women at work for the war effort)

Propaganda - PBS, Ken Burns (a brief look at how propaganda was used in various countries. 

World War II Posters - National Archives

Rosie the Riveter Isn't Who You Think She Is - Amercian Experience, PBS

Working in the Defense Industry During WWII - National Women's History Museum

How Did Women's Roles Change During WWII? - (linked from National Women's History Museum)

Women of World War II - National WWII Museum. Videos, articles, and primary source stories .

Women, Gender, and World War II - Melissa A.  McEuan

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) - National Air and Space Museum

Influential Events & Battles

Major Events in WWII - National Air and Space Museum (inc. Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor D-Day

The Battle of the Bulge - U.S. Army

What You Need to Know about the Battle of the Bulge - Imperial War Museum (info, photographs, and a short video)

Battle of the Bulge - US Holocaust Memorial Museum

D-Day - U.S. Army

D-Day and The Normandy Campaign - National WWII Museum

D-Day - Stories, photographs, videos from the Imperial War Museum (use the search bar to search Stories)

D-Day - US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Path to Pearl Harbor - National WWII Museum

Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941 - National WWII Museum. Articles, videos, collections on Pearl Harbor.

Military, Combatants, and Groups

Role of Women and Ethnic/Racial Groups in the Army -  U.S. Army

Army Code Talkers -  -  U.S. Army

Native Americans in World War II - National War Museum

From Barbed Wire to Battlefields: Japanese Experiences in WWII - National WWII Museum

Tuskegee Airmen - National Museum of the US Air Force

Tuskegee Airmen - National Air and Space Museum

Tuskegee Airmen - Tuskegee University

Japanese Internment

Behind the Wire - Library of Congress

A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation During World War II - National Park Service

Confinement and Ethnicity: An Overview of World War II Japanese American Relocation Sites - by J. Burton, M. Farrell, F. Lord, and R. Lord (online book with overviews of the camps)

Japanese American Incarceration - National WWII Museum

Japanese Americans - Ken Burns, PBS

High School Life at Rohwer War Relocation Center - National WWII Museum

Japanese- American Incarceration during World War II -  primary sources at the National Archives

Holocaust and Concentration Camps

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Yad Vashem - World Holocaust Remembrance Center

Atrocities at Dachau Concentration Camp, 1945 - Eyewitness account Pfc. Harold Porter, National Archives 

Holocaust: Stories - Imperial War Museum (use the search bar to search Stories)

The Nuremberg Trials, War Crimes

The Nuremberg Trials - National WWII Museum

Nuremberg Trials: Films that Brought the Nazis to Justice -  Imperial War Museum 

Nuremberg Trials - US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Legacy of Nuremberg - PBS, American Experience

The Nuremberg Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Trials 1945-48 -  U.S. Office of the Historian

The Pacific Theater

World War II in the Pacific - US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Bataan Death March - Atomic Heritage Foundation (inc. POW experiences in the Pacific)

Bataan Death March - Peter Mansoor, Ohio State University

A Double Dose of Hell: The Bataan Death March and What Came Next - CNN article

Battle of Bataan - WWII National WWI Museum

The Atomic Bomb

The Manhattan Project - US Dept. of Energy

Manhattan Project - National WWII Museum

Atomic Heritage Foundation 

Atomic Advertising in the 20th Century - National Museum of Nuclear Science & History 

What is the Manhattan Project? - National Park Service

What was the Manhattan Project  - Scientific American article

Manhattan Project Sites - Los Alamos National Laboratory

Technology & Weapons

Aircraft - National Museum of WWII Aviation

World War II Aircraft - National Air and Space Museum