2. Purpose for today
• Current state of research for
historians
• Developing a research strategy for
this course
• Using scholarly resources
• Using popular resources in scholarly
research
4. Period of Transition
• Information explosion
• Problems with locating materials
• Problems with storage and
accessibility of materials
• Unreliability of burgeoning body of
literature
5. Period of transition
• Legibility/Stability of media
• Availability of equipment to read
and reproduce
• Availability of retrieval for
software
• Stability of content
6. Legibility/ Stability of Media
• Availability of equipment to read and
reproduce
• Availability of retrieval software
• Stability of content
7. Sources - Media
Format: Clay tablet
Storage Density: Really low
Stability: Really high
See: A History of
Information Storage &
Retrieval,
Foster Stockwell
13. Research Strategy
Seven Steps of the Research Process
Amended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of Cornell University
STEP 1: IDENTIFY AND DEVELOP YOUR TOPIC
STEP 2: FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
STEP 3:USE DATABASES TO FIND PERIODICAL ARTICLES
*STEP 4: FIND INTERNET RESOURCES
STEP 5: EVALUATE WHAT YOU FIND
STEP 6: PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER
STEP 7: CITE WHAT YOU FIND
14. What do I do first?
Take a look at your topic and identify key
search terms, Ask a question.
Most databases now use an implied Boolean
logic search scheme so a keyword search
will get you started.
Boolean logic is the use of AND, NOT, OR to
narrow or expand your search
See Research Guide
WHO
15. Note: If
working
off
campus
please
see the
“Google
scholar”
tab at the
Research
Guide for
HIST 2041
Google Scholar
ONU buys
Full-text
database
OhioLINK
Permits
Google to
link to full-text
ONU user sees
licensed full-text
articles
Google asks
to link to
content
Run Google
Scholar
Search
16. Annotated Bibliography
• Allows you to see what is out
there
• Helps you narrow your topic
and discard any irrelevant
materials
• Aids in developing the thesis
• Makes you a better scholar
18. Managing Information - RefWorks
• Licensed state-wide, access free to Ohio
students for the rest of your life!
• See: http://0-www.refworks.com.polar.onu.edu/
•
•
•
•
Write n’ Cite interfaces with MS Word
Excellent Tutorials
Help available at Heterick
Research Guide for instructions on how to
get your free-for-a-life-time account
21. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
•Definitions depend on the department and
subject matter being studied
“In the humanities, a primary resource could be
defined as something that was created either
during the time period being studied or afterward
by individuals reflecting on their involvement in the
events of the time.”
http://www.ala.org/rusa/sections/history/
resources/pubs/usingprimarysources
Primary Sources: Definitions. Lafayette College Libraries & Academic Information Resources.
<http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~library/guides/primarysources/definitions.html> Accessed August 8, 2013
22. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
• Primary sources = raw data = history’
• Reading and evaluating can
be difficult
• Opportunity to come into
contact with the past
• Enables histories to
experience the past
recreate it
Thanks to the University of North Carolina at
Pembroke
23. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
Evaluating primary sources:
1. Identifying type
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Formal treatise
Contemporary formal treatise
Public Record
Private Letters and Journals
Literary source
Nonverbal sources
Oral history
24. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
Questions to ask yourself when reviewing a
document
1. Is the source genuine?
2. What is the date of origin?
3. Who is the author?
4. Who is the audience?
25. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
•Suggestions for reading a primary source
• Read through the entire document quickly
to set a sense of the whole source. Does it
show bias? Is the bias yours or the
source?
• Read the document a second time
carefully noting authorship, time period,
intended purpose and probably impact on
the intended audience.
26. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
•Identify the following:
• Time and place
• Author
• Audience
• Personalities and roles of all people
mentioned
• Meaning and purpose
• Content (colloquial terminology, language
of the day, phrases and phrasing)
• Allusions
• Assumptions and/or bias
27. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
Additional questions to ask yourself
1. Do the contents seem reasonable?
2. Are there other primary documents
for collaboration or are there
contradictions?
3. Place the document in the larger
historical context. Do secondary
resources fit with your
interpretation?
28. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
•As you are following the steps above, be
sure to note anything you need to come
back to and look these up in reliable
reference works.
.
29. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
•“Tertiary sources provide
overviews of topics by
synthesizing information
gathered from other resources.
Tertiary resources often provide
data in a convenient form or
provide information with context
by which to interpret it.” ~ Virginia Tech
Oxford Reference
Libraries, Accessed 08/14/2013
• Encyclopedias
• Dictionaries
• Handbooks
30. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Sources
•Secondary Sources analyze or
interpret an historical event or artistic
work.
•Secondary sources often base their
theories and arguments on the direct
evidence found in primary sources.
• A secondary work for a subject is
one that discusses the subject but is
written after the time contemporary
with it.
32. What is included?
•POLAR
•Article-level searching for all EBSCO
databases
•Article-level searching for a variety of
other databases: JSTOR, Hoover’s,
AccessPharmacy, etc.
•Title-level searching for most other
databases: IEEE, CIAO, Proquest Nursing
& Allied Health
•OhioLink central catalog
38. Things to Remember
•Facets are your Friend: After you
search, limit your results to what you
really want
•A tool not a solution: This is not the
solution to everything
•Ask the librarians for help
•There will still be some small
changes coming
39. Catalog -- POLAR
• Public Online Library Access & Retrieval
• Covers holdings of both Heterick & the law
library
• Access from library home page
• Includes items in all formats – including
online material
40. Catalogs -- OhioLINK +
SearchOhio
• Includes holdings of all Ohio colleges &
universities (SearchOhio links to the
catalogs of 23 of the largest public library
systems in Ohio
• Connected to POLAR
• Students can request materials from other
libraries – IF they are not available from
ONU
• Most items requested arrive 5 working days
41. CATALOGS - WorldCAT
• Includes holdings of libraries world wide
• Covers all types of libraries &
increasingly non-library organizations
• Materials can be in all formats
• Unlike OhioLINK - Does not allow
students to request materials directly
• Available via www.worldcat.org
42. What about the web?
• Greater access to primary source
materials than ever before
• Documents, letters, maps,
photographs of ancient artifacts
and other primary material are
available online in different formats
from free websites
• With the proliferation of electronic
resources from a wide variety of
web site producers, evaluation is
more important than ever before
43. Critically analyzing
web sources
•
•
•
•
What? is the page/site about
Who? created and maintains this site
Where? Is the information coming from
Why? Is the information presented on
the web
• When? Was the page created or last
updated
• How? Accurate or credible is the page
From the University of Wisconsin Library,
worksheet for evaluating web sites
44. Databases
•
•
•
•
•
•
America History and Life
American Periodical Series
Historical Abstracts
JSTOR
Digital; Dissertations
History of Science and
Medicine
• HarpWeek
• ITER
• Sanborn Maps
45. Content
•
Full-text Resource – War of the Rebellion (TIF files)
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/moa_browse.html
•
Full-text Resource – New York Times (PDF file)
•
Full-text Resource – Gentle Measures in the Training
of the Young… (ASCII file, text)
46. Locating Tools - Metasites
• OAIster (Open Archives Initiative
(now a part of Worldcat)
• Repository of Primary Sources
• Text Encoding Initiative consortium
48. Websites -- Professional
Am. Assoc. for State and Local History
http://www.aaslh.org
American Historical Association
http://www.historians.org
Ohio Historical Society
http://www.ohiohistory.org
Organization of American Historians
http://www.oah.org
Scholarly Societies Project
http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/overview.html
49. Websites -- Text
• Railroad Maps
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/rrhtml/rrhome.html
• Duke Papyrus Archive
http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/papyrus
• Documenting the American South
http://docsouth.unc.edu
• Internet Library of Early Journals
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ilej/
• Eurodocs
http://library.byu.edu/~rdh/eurodocs
50. Websites -- Topical
• Aquae Urbis Romae
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/waters/
• Ctr. For the Hist. Of Information
Technol.
http://www.cbi.umn.edu
• Ancient Metallurgy Research
Group
http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/archsci/depart/resgrp/amrg/amrginfo.htm
• Bill Douglas Ctr. For the Hist. Of
Cinema
http://www.ex.ac.uk/bill.douglas/menu.html
51. Websites -- Museums, Libraries,
Archives
• U. Of Memphis Inst. Of Egyptian
Art
http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/main.html
• J. Paul Getty Museum
http://www.getty.edu/museum
• Sistine Chapel
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/0-Tour.html
• National Palace Museum –
Taipei
http://www.npm.gov.tw/english/index-e.htm
52. FURTHER HELP
• Reference Desk (see
library hours)
• Phone to Ref. Desk –
2185
• E-mail help on
database help pages
• Professor Traci
Welch Moritz
• T-moritz@onu.edu
• Ext. 2473
