HistoriographyDr. John Lomax

Professor Traci Welch Moritz

Public Services Librarian

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

How am I going to remember all this stuff?

Period of Transition

• Information explosion• Problems with locating materials• Problems with storage and

accessibility of materials • Unreliability of burgeoning body of

literature

Period of transition

• Legibility/Stability of media• Availability of equipment to read

and reproduce• Availability of retrieval for

software• Stability of content

Legibility/ Stability of Media

• Availability of equipment to read and reproduce

• Availability of retrieval software• Stability of content

Sources - Media

Format: Clay tabletStorage Density: Really lowStability: Really high

See: A History ofInformation Storage & Retrieval,Foster Stockwell

Sources - Media

Format: Papyrus scrollStorage Density: LowStability: Centuries

Sources - Media

Format: Book (paper)Storage Density: LowStability: Centuries

Sources - Media

Format: MicrofilmStorage Density: MediumLifetime: Centuries

Sources - Media

Format: Magnetic / optical / digital memoryStorage density: highStability: Low

Media - Sources

Format: InternetStorage Density: HighStability: ?

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

Seven Steps of the Research ProcessAmended with permission by the Librarians at the Olin and Uris Libraries of Cornell University

Research Strategy

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 CARES?

ONU buysFull-textdatabase

OhioLINKPermits

Google tolink to full-text

Google asksto link tocontent

ONU user sees licensed full-textarticles

Run Google ScholarSearch

Note: If working offcampus please see the “Google scholar” tab at the Research Guide for HIST 2041

Google Scholar

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

Bibliographic Citation Software

REFWORKS

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

Tools for locating resources

• EDS• Catalogs

– POLAR– OhioLINK– SearchOhio– WorldCat.org

• Databases• Websites

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Sources

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

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

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

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?

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.

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

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?

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.

.

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 Libraries, Accessed 08/14/2013

• Encyclopedias• Dictionaries• Handbooks

Oxford Reference

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.

SEARCH

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

Results: Full Text, Polar

Results: OhioLink

Results: Find It @ ONU

Results: ILL

Facets: Limit Your Results

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

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

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

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

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

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

Databases

• America History and Life• American Periodical Series• Historical Abstracts• JSTOR• Digital; Dissertations• History of Science and Medicin

e• HarpWeek• ITER• Sanborn Maps

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)

Locating Tools - Metasites

• OAIster (Open Archives Initiative (now a part of Worldcat)

• Repository of Primary Sources

• Text Encoding Initiative consortium

Websites -- Types

• Professional Organizations• Topical/ Thematic Sites• Text/ Graphic Collections• Museums and Other Learned Bodies

Websites -- Professional

Am. Assoc. for State and Local Historyhttp://www.aaslh.org

American Historical Associationhttp://www.historians.org

Ohio Historical Societyhttp://www.ohiohistory.org

Organization of American Historianshttp://www.oah.org

Scholarly Societies Projecthttp://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/society/overview.html

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

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

Websites -- Museums, Libraries, Archives

• U. Of Memphis Inst. Of Egyptian Art

http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/main.html

• J. Paul Getty Museumhttp://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

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