This is a resource I learned about over this past semester, and I found it so useful. Google Books and Google NGram are two of the most useful Google sources for researching, especially if you aren't attached to a school or university.
In my History Proseminar class this past semester (the Spring 2021 semester by the US university system), I wrote a research paper on the writings of Giovanni Belzoni and Thomas Young, two Egyptologists who worked for the British in the early 19th century. My paper turned out really well, and I got a __% on it.
However, I wouldn't have been able to get far in my research without Google Books or the Google NGram. My university's databases had some resources, but they didn't have enough primary sources for me to make a strong case for my thesis. That's where Google Books and Google NGram came in to the picture.
Why is Google NGram so useful? In Google NGram, you can include 1 or more terms, phrases, names, etc., and see when the term(s) was most used during a specific period of time. You can also set a specific time frame for the term you're searching for, For your research, this can really help you figure out what periods of time your primary sources should be coming from.
Why is Google Books so useful? If there is a primary resource you need, and it's over 100 years old, you will most likely be able to access that resource through Google Books. And YES, books are considered primary resources IF they're published during the time the event happened, are autobiographies, or are by the person you're researching. Books aren't always primary resources, but they can be.
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