HIST 323: Germany Since 1945

Because virtually anyone can create a web site, you need to know how to tell is a site is offering accurate and complete information in the form of digital documents, images, data, and other information. Here are some things to look for:

• Any online site that the library subscribes to will be a trusted site.

• A site maintained by a library, archive or museum will generally offer high quality, complete and accurate digital documents and other information.
• Prefer a site that has page images of the original documents together with transcriptions, rather than transcriptions only, so that you can compare the transcription to the original to see if anything was omitted or transcribed inaccurately.
• If the site is questionable, look for identifying information about the site's creator(s). If no attribution is given, then the site is probably not reputable. Prefer sites authored by scholars. Find out more information about the author by doing a follow-up search on the web using the author's name, looking for educational affiliation and a list of publications.

The Hoover Institution also makes thousands of documents available online in digital form. Search their digital library. (Use both Catalog 1 and Catalog 2 options.) 

Caveat: The Hoover Institution (full name is Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace) is a think tank and, as with most/all think tanks, they have a specific mission. Read documents carefully and find out all you can about the context of the documents.

Europeana is a portal to digital collections from European Union member institutions. Much of the content will be in non-English; the collections included focus heavily on images.