Library Research Guide for the History of Science

There may already be a detailed list of sources, a bibliography, for your topic.

For example: Microbes and Minie Balls: An Annotated Bibliography of Civil War Medicine, by F. R. Freemon. Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1993, 253 pp.

Look for specialized subject bibliographies search, e.g., <"science and state" AND China AND bibliography>  in HOLLIS+ and WorldCat. The word Bibliography must be searched as a Subject keyword.

This search yields:
Science and technology in the development of modern China: an annotated bibliography, by Genevieve C. Dean. London : Mansell Information Publishing, 1974, 265 p.

Additional bibliographies are available in the Specialized Resources in the History of Science.

If you find an older article or book in a bibliography, you can use the Cited Reference search in the Web of Science find more recent articles by seeing who has cited it.   If you have a bibliography of primary sources, then the Web of Science can be used to find secondary sources that cite a specified primary source. See Searching the Citation Indexes (Web of Science).