historical research top 10 list. number 10 you can use many of the library databases, electronic...
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Historical Research
Top 10 List
Number 10
You can use many of the library databases, electronic journals, collections of primary sources from home.
Number 9
Despite all the stuff online you won't be able to escape actually coming into the library.
Number 8
Despite the size of this library, we won't have everything you need so you’ll have to get stuff from other libraries.
Number 7
Secondary sources are easier to identify and locate than primary sources.
Secondary Sources
Accounts written after the fact by scholars. Interpretations of history based on an analysis of primary sources.
Formats: Books Journal articles Dissertations
Number 6
Get to know your research topic first through secondary sources before trying to identify and analyze primary sources.
Number 5
The existence, type and availability of primary sources differs for different periods of times and subjects.
Historians & Primary Sources
Primary sources are the evidence used by historians in their analysis/interpretation of the past.
Good history books and scholarly journal articles (secondary sources) carefully cite the evidence in footnotes.
Primary sources help us make personal connections with the past.
Number 4
One of the quickest way to identify primary sources is to mine the footnotes and bibliography of a secondary source.
Look at the bibliography
Identify the published primary sources.
Look them up in the UW Libraries Catalog.
If not available at the UW try Summit or request through interlibrary loan.
Number 3
Learn the basic research tools of the trade: catalogs and indexes. Choose the best databases for your topic and for the type/format of the info you need.
Number 2
Learn how to communicate with a library database.
Database searching generalities
Literal If you type in a phrase it will search for the phrase
Boolean operators/connectors AND - narrows OR - broadens
Truncation/wildcard Allows you to easily search for variant word endings
* in the UW Libraries Catalog, America History & Life and other databases
Boolean: AND
indians AND jackson
indians
jackson
Boolean: OR
indians OR cherokee
indians
cherokee
Boolean: combining
(indian* OR cherokee*) AND jackson
indian*
cherokee*
jackson
Number 1
Librarians are your friends... Theresa Mudrock
Office hours: Most Thursdays 11-1, Smith 210c