How to Identify a Historical Monograph

Transcript: Hello, in this video I will explain how to identify a historical monograph. To do that, we must first ask, “What is a monograph?”
A monograph is a piece of academic writing (usually a book) that focuses on a single topic, cites its sources, is published by a scholarly or academic press, and is written by a single author (with rare exceptions).
So let’s say we’re researching the roots of the military industrial complex in Great Britain. We can start on the library's homepage and search for “military industrial complex in Great Britain” in the search field. And then press "Search."
This first result sounds relevant-Torpedo: inventing the military industrial complex in the United States and Great Britain. Let’s click the title to view the SearchIt catalog record. And we can scroll down to the “Details” section of the catalog record to verify that this book contains the elements necessary to qualify as a historical monograph.
Starting at the top of this section, we can see that this book was written by a single author-Katherine C. Epstein.
After reading the summary, it is clear that this book covers a single topic-the origins of the military industrial complex.
Continuing down, we can see that this book was published by Harvard University Press, which is an academic publisher.
And in the description, there is a note that says that this book includes bibliographical references and an index, so the author does indeed cite their sources.
By confirming each of these elements, you can be sure this book qualifies as a monograph.
If one or more of these elements is missing or if you’re unsure if the book is appropriate for your assignment, don’t hesitate to contact a librarian or visit us at the reference desk in the library. We would be happy to assist!