History Day

Olin C. Bailey Library

History Day

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  • Journals List
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“A source is a person, document, or object from which information is derived.  A source that provides direct and immediate access to the information is a primary source; a source that provides indirect exposure to the information is a secondary source.  For example, a person explaining his experience during the Vietnam War is a primary source, while if one of his listeners later recounts the explanation, that secondhand recitation is a secondary source.  Similarly, a document from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation about Martin Luther King, Jr., is a primary source for understanding the bureau’s relationship to King, while a book written about the Bureau and King is a secondary source.”

(from D’Aniello, Charles A.  Teaching Bibliographic Skills in History.  Westport, CT:  Greenwood Press, 1993.  p. 265)

 

Secondary Sources George Washington

Online Catalogs

Bailey Library  

  • Keyword:  most flexible, most results
  • Subject:  more restrictive, categories, drops you in an index  Ex.:  renaissance
  • Title:  more restrictive, have precise titles, drops you in an index.  
  • Use “*” to pick up different endings.  Ex:  Africa* and slav*
  • Click on call numbers to browse the shelf where your book is located.
  • Pay attention to subject headings!

 
WorldCat

The world’s online catalog. Use this database to find books that have been published…period.

  • Select “Subject” or “Subject Phrase” from the drop-down menu to narrow searching.
  • Pay attention to subject headings when you look at your results!
  • Limit to type of material, language, and audience where appropriate.
  • Use the index button Browse Index  to find alphabetical lists, and use the subject headings button Find preferred subjects  to browse the list of subject headings.
  • Use “*” on the end of your term to pick up different endings.
  • Use quotes to search your terms as a phrase.
  • Click on the “Libraries worldwide that own item” to see whether or not UCA owns it (anything Hendrix owns displays this symbol:In your library  ).


Databases (secondary sources)

America History & Life and Historical Abstracts

Contains citations, abstracts, and some full text to articles and books covering world history.  If you retrieve only a citation, check our journals list to see if we have the journal.

  • Use the advanced search for more searching options.
  • Use * on the end of your term for variant endings, and ? to for variant spellings.  Ex.:  slav* retrieves slavery, slaves, etc.  wom?n  retrieves woman and women
  • Boolean/Phrase search mode requires “AND” to break your search terms.
  • Limit by Historical Period and Language.

 

JSTOR

A largely full-text, social sciences database that covers complete runs of scholarly periodicals, but NOT the most current 2-5 years!

  • Use the Advanced Search.
  • Select whichever disciplines/journals are relevant to your searching, noting that you decide whether or not JSTOR includes citations and links to other content.
  • Use the drop-down menu for options to connect search terms:  and, or, near.
  • Use “?” on the end of your term to account for plurals, and “*” to account for variant word endings.
  • Use quotes to search phrases. Ex.:  “civil rights” AND “United States”


Project MUSE

Full text of nearly 200 scholarly journals published by university presses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • Use quotations (e.g. "manifest destiny") to search for phrases.
  • If desired, combine terms by typing Boolean operators AND, OR, and NOT, or type terms in separate boxes and use the pull-downs at the left of the search boxes.
  • Select fields to search from the right-hand pulldowns. 
  • Use truncation (*) on the end of your term to search for plurals or parts of words.
  • If needed, use limits to narrow the search results to specific sets of journals or articles.

 

 

 

Primary Sources

Online Catalog & WorldCat

Personal Narratives & Political Papers

  • For a list of diaries, eye-witness accounts, etc., in our book collection, use the keyword category of the online catalog and type:  United States personal narratives  [your subject, i.e. African Americans]
  • To find personal papers of a political figure, try combining the person you are searching for with some of the following phrases in a keyword search:  archives, papers, correspondence, manuscripts, documents, primary documents.
  • In WorldCat, search using the “archival materials” check-box.


Newspapers & Microform in Bailey 

Arkansas Democrat  1898-1991                      Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations
Arkansas Gazette  1828-1991                         Pennsylvania Gazette  1728-1815
American Revolution in Context                      American Women’s Diaries
Congressional Globe 1833- 1873                    Mechanics’ Free Press
Register of Debates in Congress 1825-1838


Primary Source Library Databases


Web Sites

Consult major collections of primary sources:  
lewisandclark.jpgAmerican Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
          http://memory.loc.gov/  

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
          http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp  

Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
          http://www.benfranklin300.org/index.php

British Museum
          http://www.britishmuseum.org/

Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative
          http://cdli.ucla.edu/

EuroDocs: Western European Primary Historical Documents
          http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/  

Gallica: Digital Library of the National Library of France
          http://gallica.bnf.fr/  

Making of America: 19th c. books and magazines
          http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/  

Massachusetts Historical Society
          http://www.masshist.org/online/

Presidential Libraries Web Sites
          http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/search.html

Theban Mapping Project
          http://www.thebanmappingproject.com

World History Sources
          http://chnm.gmu.edu/worldhistorysources/whmfinding.php  

Repositories of Primary Sources
          http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html  

ArchiveGrid
          http://www.archivegrid.org/web/index.jsp  

U.S. Congressional Documents & Debates
          http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html  

European History Primary Sources (European University Institute)
          http://primary-sources.eui.eu/  

National Security Archive (George Washington University)
          http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html  

 

Browse a history subject directory: 
Internet Public Library & Librarians’ Index to the Internet (search using “primary sources”)
          http://www.ipl.org/  

History Matters: The U.S. Survey on the Web
          http://historymatters.gmu.edu/  

History Guide
          http://www.historyguide.de/  

World Wide Virtual Library: History
          http://vlib.iue.it  

 

Finding photographs and other non-text sources: 
American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library
          http://memory.loc.gov/  

Flickr:  The Commons
          http://www.flickr.com/commons?

Flickr:  The Library of Congress' Photostream
          http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/

Flickr:  The National Archives UK's Photostream
          http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/

Flickr:  The U.S. National Archives' Photostream
          http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/

Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum & Library Audio Visual Collection
          http://www.trumanlibrary.org/photos/av-photo.htm

Images Canada
          http://www.imagescanada.ca/  

New York Public Library Digital Library Collection
          http://digital.nypl.org/  

Picture Australia
          http://www.pictureaustralia.org/  

Heritage Image Partnership (UK)
          http://www.heritage-images.com/  

 

Last Modified on 10/31/2011