Carmichael Library
How Do I
Welcome to the History 310 Historiography 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
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HIS310/ Dr. Hultquist
This guide is designed to assist you in your History 310 assignments
· Books
· Selected Reference Materials
Books
How to locate 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.
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 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.
Library of Congress classification provides a method to arrange books on the library shelves by subject using call numbers. These call numbers can be used as a guide for browsing the shelves for books in History.
- D: General History
- DA: British History
- DB: Austria-Hungary
- DC: French History
- DD: German History
- DE: Classical History [General]
- DF: Greece, Ancient and Modern
- DG: Rome and Italy
- DK: Russia
- DL: Scandinavia
- DP: Spain and Portugal
- DS: Asia
- DS35-254: Middle East
- DS500s: South East Asia
- DS700s: China
- DS800s: Japan
- DT: Africa
- E70s: Native North Americans
- E185s: African-Americans
- F100-999: U.S. States
- F 321-335 Alabama
- F1001-1121: Canada
- F1204-1386: Mexico
- F1434: Middle American Indians
- F2229: South American Indians
Check the complete listing of Library of Congress call numbers.
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.
Peer Reviewed Sources
In addition to books, the following electronic and print sources provide access to authoritative and scholarly analysis of a topic in history.
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.
Reference materials (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, etc.) are a good place to begin 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 aces to 4,600 journals including more
than 3,600 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.
How to Look For 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
Newspapers
On-line full text access to the New York Times
from about 1985 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.
For additional newspaper access, check the Catalog to see if the Library owns a particular newspaper.
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.
Book Reviews
Book reviews can serve many functions. Reviews are important ways to establish the credibility and authority of a book. 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.
Electronic Sources
Reviews are indexed in many of the
periodical indexes 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.
From the Advanced search screen, there is
the option to limit a search by document type.
Next to the document type search box, click on
the magnifying glass icon. Select the book
review option.
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).
From the Advanced search screen, there is
the option to limit a search by document type.
Next to the document type search box, click on
the magnifying glass icon. Select the book
review option.
Print Sources for Book Reviews
Book Review Index
Main Floor Index Z 1035 .A1 B6
Book Review Digest
Main Floor Index Z 1219 .C95
I
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
History Journals
Check the CATALOG > Journal Title to locate the exact volume and year.
Alabama Heritage
Alabama Review
American Historical Review
Civil War History
Civilization
English Historical Review
French Historical Studies
Journal of British studies
Journal of Negro History
Journal of Southern History
Past & Present
Sixteenth Century Journal
Speculum
William and Mary Quarterly
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.
Web Review Assignment
Choose
a web site from the following list for your
assignment.
Critical analysis of a web site is similar to
analysis of a book or journal article.
Consider the following when assessing the Web site:
I . Comparison
Compare the difference and similarities in
content from the web site to other information
formats:
Peer reviewed journal articles
Scholarly books
Specialized encyclopedias in the Reference Collection
Other free web sites on similar topics
How deep does the web site go into the topic?
Does the web site provide sufficient factual
information?
Does it supply sufficient primary sources?
Compared to other sources does this web site
reveal any specific information?
Controversial information?
Does the site have a bias compared to other
sources you've reviewed on the topic?
Often a web site provides more photographs or
images of an event.
II. Corroboration
Corroborate and verify information from the web site against one or more different sources
Is your web site questionable?
Can you find sources that have different motivations to corroborate the accuracy of your web site?
The more sources you can find to corroborate information the more reliable the web site.
III. Would the web site be appropriate
to use for an undergraduate assignment?
What type of audience is this site appealing to?
IV. Authorship
Who wrote the web site? What are
their credentials?
Who sponsors this site?
V. Additional sources for evaluation of
information on the web
World Wide Web Virtual Library
CHOICES for Web Review
Assignment : you must choose from this approved
list
The Emergence of Advertising in America
Presents over 9,000 images, with
database information, relating to the early
history of advertising in the United States. The
materials, drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript,
and Special Collections Library at Duke
University, provide a significant and
informative perspective on the early evolution
of this most ubiquitous feature of modern
American business and culture.
CIA: Heroin Movement Worldwide--broken
link--removed by A.M.
Liberty, equality, fraternity
George Mason University site of
an overview of the French Revolution
Nazi
and East German Propaganda Guide page
The German Propaganda Archive
includes both propaganda itself and material
produced for the guidance of propagandists. The
goal is to help people understand the two great
totalitarian systems of the twentieth century by
giving them access to the primary material.
Nazi War
Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records
Interagency Working Group
The Nazi War Crimes and Japanese
Imperial Government Records Interagency Working
Group (IWG) locates, identifies, inventories,
and recommends for declassification, currently
classified U.S. records relating to Nazi and
Japanese Imperial Government war crimes. Once
declassified, these records are released to the
American public.
The
Vietnam Project
The mission of the Vietnam
Project at Texas Tech University is to support
and encourage research and education regarding
all aspects of the American Vietnam experience;
promoting a greater understanding of this
experience and the peoples and cultures of
Southeast Asia. Its functions are threefold:
collection and preservation of pertinent source
material; education through exhibits, classroom
instruction, educational programs, and
publications; and encouragement of scholarly
research through exchanges, publishing of
noteworthy research, symposia, and financial
support.
Spurious
Web sites
California's
Velcro Crop under Challenge
The
Jackalope Conspiracy
Feline
Reactions to Bearded Men
Wikepedia Controversy
Wikipedia Watch
Nature artilce
Internet encyclopaedias go head to head
DIGITAL MAOISM:
The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism
[5.30.06]
By Jaron Lanier
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
HELP!
Kathleen Lowe's e-mail
