Carmichael Library
How Do I
Welcome to the History 310 Guide
This guide is the starting point for identifying, locating, using, and evaluating materials relating to History in the Carmichael Library and on Internet. If you need additional assistance, please Ask a Librarian or contact Kathleen Lowe, Reference and Instruction Librarian, at lowek@montevallo.edu or 665-6109
HIS310/ Dr. Barone
►Wikepedia Assignment
Choose
a topic from the following list for your
assignment.
Critical analysis of the Wikipedia entry and the
additional source is similar to
analysis of a book or journal article.
TOPICS come in pairs!
Topic 1 Pair 1
Napoleonic Wars: Invasion of Russia
a. Wikipedia entry:
French Invasion of Russia (1812)
b. Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. ed. "Russian
Campaign" in The Encyclopedia of the French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Ref. DC 220 .E53 2006
Topic 2 Pair 2
Auschwitz bombing debate
a. Wikipedia entry:
Auschwitz bombing debate
b. Gutman, Israel. ed. "Auschwitz, Bombing Of".
Encyclopedia of the Holocaust
Ref. D 804.3 .E53 1990
Topic 3 Pair 3
Black Power
a. Wikipedia entry
Black Power
b. Finkelman, Paul. "Black Power
Movement." in the Encyclopedia of
African American History
Ref. E 185 .E5453 2009
Topic 4 Pair 4
Richard I the Lionheart (1157-1199)
Involvement in the Crusades
a. Wikipedia entry
Richard I of England
b. Murray, Alan V. ed. "Richard I the Lionheart"
in The Crusades: An Encyclopedia.
Ref. D 155 .C78 2006
Topic 5 Pair 5
Knights Templar in Scotland
1. Wikipedia entry:
Knights Templar in Scotland
2. Ralls, Karen. "Scotland" page 220 and "Temple
(Balantradoch) page 187 in Knights Templar
Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People,
Places, Events, & Symbols of the Order of the
Temple.
Ref. CB 4743 .R34 2007
Misc. Wikipedia Guidelines
►What is a Book Review?
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Writing Center
Book Reviews
Finding Book Reviews
Book reviews can serve many functions. Reviews are important ways to establish the credibility and authority of a book, because they often discuss the author's qualifications. Reading several reviews of the same book is valuable. A single review represents a single opinion and will often mirror the editorial policy of the publication in which it appears. Scholarly reviews often appear as much as four or five years after the publication of the book.
Reviews are indexed in many of the history databases such as:
America:
History and Life
Covers the history of the United States
and Canada, America: History and Life
indexes book reviews from around 140 journals.
Use the Search Option
screen to select Book Review
Historical Abstracts
Covers the history
of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding
the Unite States and Canada, which are
covered in America history and Life).
Use the Search Option
screen to select Book Review
►Bibliographic Essay Assignment
"A bibliographic essay is a narrative discussion, a review, of the literature of a topic. It is the equivalent of a conversation in which someone not only advises you about "what's out there" but shapes that raw material into a coherent survey of the materials available. Like all bibliographies, the bibliographic essay enumerates sources and, like an annotated bibliography, it describes and analyses them; it goes beyond performing these functions, however, to comparing, contrasting, and evaluating the relationships among works. A bibliographic essay thus draws a picture of the literature of a topic, and in so doing, unlike a list and like an essay, it tends to take a position and establish an interpretive point of view." -- Haverford College Libraries, Reference Department,
-
Choose 5 Books on your topic
-
Ideally 1 book will be the book you reviewed for the Book Review Assignment
The Bibliographic Essay is a second, more extended format of reporting. It is in paragraph form; it is a written narrative, with bibliographic citations sprinkled into its narrative. The bibliographic essay is frequently used in the category of literature Freides calls "research reviews." - University of Oklahoma, School of Library and information Studies
Some examples of Bibliographic Essays include:
-
Toward Understading the Death Penarly Debate by Michael A. Foley
-
Thomas F. Glick, "Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages," the Library of Iberian Resources Online
Trouble finding 5 books on the same topic? -
Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing
Ref. D 14 .E53 1999 Provides a guide to influential historians and historical debates...use the Further Readings as a guide to additional books on a topic -
Reader's Guide to American History
Ref. E 178 .R43 1997 "The Readers Guide takes the form of a series of essays which describe and assess books on some 600 different topics" . Excellent source for books on a topic in American History!
REMEMBER!
TO FIND BOOKS USE THE:
TO FIND AN ARTICLE or to locate a Book Review search
the Library Databases:
TO OBTAIN MATERIAL NOT in CARMICHAEL LIBRARY
►Library Databases for peer reviewed journal articles
The
following electronic sources provide
access to authoritative and scholarly analysis
of a topic in history in peer reviewed journals.
America History and Life
America: History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises over 450,000 bibliographic entries, providing an incomparable research tool for students and researchers of US and Canadian history.
This extensive database covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide. In addition to covering all key English-language historical journals, America: History and Life coverage includes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities. Over 90% of the articles included are published in English-language journals.
In addition to articles, each year America: History and Life includes approximately 6,000 citations of book and media reviews from a selection of over one hundred key journals in US and Canadian history and related fields. The database also includes citations to abstracts of dissertations published in these areas.
This database contains annotated references to books, articles, and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life).
Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts currently covers over 2,000 journals published throughout the world.
In addition to including the key historical journals from virtually every
major country, Historical
Abstracts includes a targeted selection
of hundreds of journals in the social sciences
and humanities that are of special interest to
researchers and students of history.
JSTOR (HINT...this is a good source
for the Journal Review Assignment)
Academic journals comprise the majority of the
content in the archive. Journals are always
included from volume 1, issue 1 and include
previous and related titles. The most recently
published issues (past 3-5 years) are not
available.
Books
Books can be both primary and secondary sources. The Library Catalog contains records for primary sources such as diaries, letters, and speeches. All books are secondary sources in the sense that they describe an event from the viewpoint of an author in a particular time period.
World
Cat
Index and Abstracts
Provides
access to the citations for millions of books and other materials in
our library and libraries around the world. Search in this
database if the materials you are looking for are not available in
this Library and see
Interlibrary
Loan
The Library Catalog provides access to authors, titles, and subjects. Historical research often requires special knowledge of the Library of Congress Subject Headings.
Researchers and students of history should consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings for the appropriate subject headings and additional ‘see references’.
Generally, searching the Library catalog or WorldCat using keywords as you would on Yahoo! or Google is not the most efficient way to locate library material in the field of history. Using the Library of Congress Subject Headings retrieves the most accurate list of library materials.
WorldCat
Contains
records of library materials
worldwide. If a book you’re looking for is not
available in our Library, consult WorldCat as
well as the guidelines for Interlibrary
Loan.
Reference materials (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, etc.) are often a good place to start your research.
- Reference materials provide background for your topic
- Provides the backbone for your research: Who, what, where, when, and why?
- Bibliographies at the end of an entry can be "mined" for additional sources
The
American Historical Association's Guide to
Historical Literature
Ref. D 9 .A55 1995
Provides a selected list, with
appropriate commentary, of books and articles in
every field of historical scholarship.
Works are chosen for inclusion on the
basis of several factors: (1) reliable synthesis
or reference works; (2) works that set the
standard of excellence in various fields of
history; (3) major alternative interpretations
represented in scholarly debate.
Alabama
History: An Annotated Bibliography
Ref. F 326 .A43 1998
The most current comprehensive
bibliography of Alabama history. Indispensable
for researchers. Complies the best and most
usable books, articles, dissertations, theses,
and reference works published through December
1996.
Encyclopedia
of Historians and Historical Writing
Ref. D 14 .E53 1999
Provides a guide to influential
historians and historical debates including the
western historical canon and beyond to include
writers from other cultures and traditions.
Harvard
Guide to American History
Ref. E 175.7 .H37 1974
The basic reference bibliography for
American history. A selective listing
covering the whole range of American history
including citations to both books and
periodical materials.
Writings
on American History
Ref. E 172 .A60
An excellent annual bibliography and
index to books and articles published on the
history of the U.S. or Europe with some coverage
of Latin America and the Pacific Islands.
No bibliographies issued for 1904-9105,
1941-1947 due to war.
Magazine Articles
Popular magazines can provide primary and secondary evidence of the social and political history of an era. Print and electronic indexes to magazine articles of interest to historians are arranged chronically.
20th Century - Current
Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature
The print version covers 1890-present.
Contains comprehensive indexing and
abstracting of the most popular general interest
periodicals published in the United States.
Alternative
Press Index
Comprehensive guide to alternative sources of
information from over 300
alternative,
radical and left periodicals, newspapers and
magazines.
Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier provides
full text access to 4,600 journals including more
than 3,900 peer reviewed publications.
19th Century
Poole's index to periodical literature
Few works of scholarship can match the significance of William Frederick Poole's index to periodical literature, which remains a core resource for researching nineteenth--century topics.
Newspapers
New
York Times
The Library provides a microfilm copy of
the New York Times from 1856-present.
Use the New York Times Index to find a
particular topic/event by the year in which it
occurred.
Proquest Historical Newspapers, New York
Times (1851-2004)
Full text of New York Times from 1851-1994
ProQuest
Newspapers
On-line full text access to the New York Times
from about 1985 to the present is available on this
database.
Lexis Nexis
Offers full text to current information from
newspapers around the world, transcripts from
leading newswire and television services and
transcripts of many US government announcements.
Birmingham News
The Library has a microfilm copy of the
Birmingham News from 1955-present. Primary
source information from the Civil Rights era is
of particular interest.
Shelby
County Reporter
The Library has a microfilm copy of the
Shelby County Reporter from 1927-present.
To locate newspapers of historical interest in Alabama, you may want to consult the following guide:
ADAH
Alabama Department of Archives and History:
Newspapers on Microfilm
Researchers can search a list of Alabama
newspapers by county
For access to a particular newspaper, check with
a Reference Librarian.
Biographical
Information
Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical
Research
Ref. D 14 .E53 1999
Useful for biographical information or for
locating a leading historian in a particular
field of history. Biographical entries on
leading historians generally provide lists of
journal articles and books written by the
historian.
Biography and Genealogy Master File Index
Library database to access citations to
biographical information.
Contemporary Authors
Library database to access
biographical information
Dictionary of Literary Biography
Library database to access
biographical information
Directory of American
Scholars
Ref. LA 2311 C32
Primary Sources
Primary
sources provide an eyewitness account of an
event.
Primary sources include manuscripts,
archives, letters, diaries, and speeches.
The CATALOG provides access to letters, diaries, speeches and personal narratives in the collection. Include the keywords or phrases below in your search to locate primary sources:
· Personal narratives
· Diaries
· Correspondence
· Sources
· Records
· Letters
Examples of a keyword search in the CATALOG might be:
· Civil War and personal narratives
· Women pioneers and diaries
· Witchcraft and sources
In addition, the Library has some unique primary source materials on microfilm located on the Main Level in the Reference area. Included are colonial American newspapers from South Carolina and Virginia dating back to 1732.
Of Interest
AHA: History Doctoral Programs in the United
States and Canada
Careers for History Majors
History Matters
Designed for high school and college teachers
and students of U.S. history survey courses,
this site serves as a gateway to web resources
and offers unique teaching materials,
first-person primary documents, and guides to
analyzing historical evidence.
Organization of American Historians Publications, Reports
HELP!
Mrs. Kathleen Lowe's e-mail
