The article approaches to research practices as academic primitives based the analysis of the online survey conducted in 2017 using the international model DiMPO (Digital methods, practices, and ontologies). The modern approaches to the definition of research practices are described. The research of collected through online research of data is conducted, the research is focused on how electronic resources are used today, and which practices researchers in the Humanities (mainly historians) do apply. The problem of the practical and repeated use of electronic resources is discussed, and the emerging new digital practices are described. They require a careful attention of historians, primarily from the standpoint of historical sources, because it is necessary to give a balanced assessment and to formulate the principles that researchers can use when referring to digital formats and electronic copies of historical sources. However, from a methodological point, it is necessary to create empirically grounded classification of methods and specification tools that allow to use the full capabilities of modern online technologies and data formats. Data from the online survey allow to take the first step in this direction.