hist 300: search strategy susan wheeler, reference librarian langsdale library [email protected]...
TRANSCRIPT
Plan for Today• Search Strategy• Historical Research• Getting Articles• Activity: Learn a Database• Wrap-up• 5-minute Evaluation (for library)
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Search Strategy
Research Question:
Has integration resulted in a better education for black children?
What are your main concepts (=keywords)?
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CHOOSE SYNONYMS
• Finding other words may help when an initial search fails to find enough
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MY SYNONYMSintegration education black children
Desegregation Learning Colored child
Segregation Teaching Negro youth
Busing Afro-American
student
African-American
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Boolean Operators
• AND: joins concepts/ideas together (both/all)
• OR: combines synonyms or related terms (either/any)
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Search Statement
Integration AND Education
Integration AND Education AND Child*
Desegregation AND Black* AND Student
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Combining Keywords
•Nesting: combine like terms in parentheses; used to combine synonyms
•Truncation (*): special symbol used to represent missing letters; used in place of retyping an entire word
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Combining Keywords
(Integration OR Desegregation) AND (Education OR Learn*) AND (Black* OR Negro OR African-American)
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Historical Research
Research Topic:
Write a biographical essay about Linda Brown Thompson and her place in American History.
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Historical Research
What we know:• AmericanWhat we need to know:• Where in America?• Known for what?• When in history?
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Historical Research
Where to start?• Textbook• Encyclopedia• Wikipedia• Search engine• Database
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Historical ResearchLinda Brown Thompson• Born 1943 • Grew up in Topeka, Kansas• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
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Historical Research
Not finding what you want?
Get creative!
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Historical ResearchKeywords• Names
– Linda Brown Thompson– Oliver Brown (father)– Cheryl Brown Henderson (sister)
• Places– Topeka– Kansas– United States
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Historical ResearchKeywords• Events
– Brown v. Board of Education (1954)– Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
• Topics– Segregation/desegregation– Civil Rights Movement– Jim Crow or “black code”– Racism
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Finding Journal Articles
Subject-Specific Databases:• America: History and Life• Humanities International Complete• JSTOR (full text access for part of
the database)
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Finding Journal Articles
General Databases:• Academic Search Premier• Historical Newspapers• Lexis-Nexis Academic
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Getting to the Full Text
Do we own it?
• Find It button• Journal Finder
If we don’t own it, use ILL
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Questions?
In-Class Exercise: Learning a Database
Wrap-Up• If your topic is too broad, add
another concept (AND)• If your topic is too narrow, add
synonyms and related terms (OR)• When doing historical research, be
creative (related people, topics, places, etc.)
• Different databases = different results (try more than one)
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Thank You!
Reference Help:
Phone: 410-837-4274E-mail: [email protected]: ublangsdale
HIST 300 Course Page:
http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/course_websites/fa09/hist300_nix.htm
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Photo CreditsYoung Linda Brown:
http://www.policyalmanac.org/culture/archive/7174761-140.jpg (accessed 9/10/08)
Cheryl Brown Henderson & Linda Brown Thompson: http://www.canisius.edu/images/userImages/chuckp/Page_5311/browns_300.jpe (accessed 9/10/08)
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