Historical Research

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Historical Research

• Top 10 List

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Number 10

• You can use many of the library databases,
  electronic journals, collections of primary
  sources from home.

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Number 9

• Despite all the stuff online you won't be able to
  escape actually coming into the library.

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Number 8

• Despite the size of this library, we won't have
  everything you need so youll have to get stuff
  from other libraries.

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Number 7

• Secondary sources are easier to identify and
  locate than primary sources.

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Secondary Sources

• Accounts written after the fact by scholars.
  Interpretations of history based on an analysis
  of primary sources.
• Formats
• Books
• Journal articles
• Dissertations
• Conference reports

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Number 6

• Get to know your research topic first through
  secondary sources before trying to identify and
  analyze primary sources.

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Number 5

• The existence, type and availability of primary
  sources differs for different periods of times
  and subjects.

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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.

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Number 4

• One of the quickest way to identify primary
  sources is to mine the footnotes and bibliography
  of a secondary source.

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• Examine the bibliography
• Identify the published primary sources.
• Look them up in the UW Libraries Catalog.
• If we dont own, then try Summit (for books) or
  Interlibrary loan.

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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.

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Number 2

• Learn how to communicate with a library database.

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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

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Boolean AND
puerto rico
immigration
puerto rico AND immigration
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Boolean OR
immigration
emigration
immigration OR emigration
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Boolean combining
immigra
emigration
puerto rico
(immigra OR emigration) AND puerto rico
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Number 1

• The History Librarian is your friend...
• Office hours Wednesdays 11-1, Smith 210
• Email me if you have questions or would like an
  appointment mudrock_at_u.washington.edu