Professor Cliff Clark
Spring 2009

• Primary Sources
• Secondary Literature
• Keeping Track and Citing
  
• Librarian

Primary Sources

No matter how interesting or exciting your topic, your proposed topics will not be feasible unless you identify a group of primary sources.

Use Bibliographies, Notes, and References

The bibliographies and notes of relevant secondary literature can be one of the best sources for identifying existing and relevant sources that can be used to explore your questions.

Digitized Collections 

We have a number of full text collections of documents, newspapers, and other sources which may be of interest for you. 

• American Periodical Series (1741-1900)
• Early American Newspapers  (1690-1922)
• FBIS (1974-1996) Translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from nations around the globe.
• Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers
  
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers
  Chicago Defender: 1910 - 1975, NY Times: 1851 - 2005, LA Sentinel: 1934-2005, LA Times: 1881 - 1986, Minneapolis Tribune: 1867-1922
• Women and Social Movements (1600-2000)
• World News Connection (1995-current) Translated and English-language news and information. Particularly effective in its coverage of local media sources from around the world

Indexes--Finding Aids

• LexisNexis Congressional (Government records, Regulations) Congressional hearings, public issues, legislation, history, and legal research. Includes Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969, and Statutes at Large
• Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890 – 1982)
  Indexes popular literary and news publications during this period. 

Finding Primary Sources in the Library (and beyond)

Search BRIDGE and WorldCat for printed collections of primary sources.

• Do an author search for persons, organizations, or group central to your topic.

• Do a keyword search for words representing your topic and words that indicate primary source (source, letters, narrative, laws)

Center for Research Libraries 

The Center for Research Libraries has a number of microfilmed collections, international newspapers, and official documents from countries outside the U.S.  Check their topic guides and newsletter for more ideas.

Scholarship 

There are many avenues into the secondary literature on a topic.

Secondary Literature 

• Look at the notes and bibliographies of monographs and articles which you are already familiar.  Search for titles that look interesting to you in BRIDGE and WorldCat.

Indexes

• America History and Life and Historical Abstracts
  Most comprehensive resources for searching secondary literature in history.  To find the text of articles and books you discover here, click the "Find It" button.  This will tell you if and how the text is available at Carleton or St. Olaf. 

  Some Tips:

  • Generate many keywords
  • Notice subjects in relevant records
  • Use subject index to find more
  • Advanced Search: Use time period limit, especially for concepts like gender, power, race, citizenship
  • Advanced: Use document type limit
  • Advanced: Historiography and Review articles can be useful subjects

Multidisciplinary databases

• Academic Search Premier
  Broad multi-disciplinary database includes history. Excellent source for book reviews.
• Humanities International Complete
  Indexes humanities journals from around the world. 
• Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences Citation Index
  Use AH and SS Citation Indexes to find out who has cited a given work. Also, an excellent source for book reviews.

Reference Books

Helpful for giving an overview of a topic and pointing to relevant secondary literature:

• "Reader's Guide" series, like the Reader's Guide to American History and the Reader's Guide to Military History, have historiographical entries with substantial bibliographies.

• Specialized Subject Encyclopedias like the New Dictionary of the History of Ideas,  Encyclopedia of American Social History and Encyclopedia of European Social History have lengthy entries with bibliographies.

Keeping Track 

There are several and varied options for keeping track of your research. Many people find text documents or handwritten notes meet their needs. Below are some other options for managing your research. Find something that works for you and fits into how you work.

• EndNote or EndNote Web
• Zotero
• Online Bookmarks (like delicious )

Citing Your Sources

Chicago Manual of Style
Online and in Ready Ref: Z253 .U69 2003