This is one of the most
important assignments you will complete this semester. Spending a lot of time
on it will help launch you on the path to a successful research paper for HIST
201, and make
writing all other research papers in the future much easier.
Print this document and take it with you to your scheduled session with Mr.
Alfgren in the A. O.
Kuhn Library.
Proper documentation (full citation of your sources) is your "proof" that you
have completed the assignment.
Learning good habits concerning information necessary for citations is one of
the goals of this exercise.
Be sure you collect enough information about each source so that you can easily
find it again and include
all the details you will need in a footnote or bibliography citation. Getting in
the habit of including full citations
on every piece of evidence collected in your research will save you lots of
time, frustration, and money.
Your citations should
follow the format outlined in the Marius/Page book, the
History Department Style Sheet. or any standard Chicago Manual of Style guide such as Kate Turabian's
A Manual for Writers of Theses and Dissertations.
***For this specific assignment, show that you have done the work by including
full
bibliographical citations for the sources identified to answer each
question.****
Hot Tip: The Library's "Historical Studies Research Guide" is a useful tool
http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/subjectguides/HISTGEN-SG/index.php for completing this
assignment and your
final research paper.
Warning: For parts of
this assignment you will have to actually go to the A.O. Kuhn Library
building
at UMBC.
Other sections may be completed using any computer with
access to databases and other online
resources is through the library webpage [www.umbc.edu/library].
On campus, access is immediate;
off-campus access requires validating that you are a UMBC student. You can do
this with the barcode
on your UMBC campus card or with your MyUMBC login. Off campus access: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/services/remoteaccess.php
The Library Research
Trail assignment
is designed to make you aware of a few of the many resources
available in the UMBC Library. This is just a sample to help get you started.
Expect to spend 8-10 hours on this assignment. The more time you spend on
this assignment now,
the easier time you will have later in the semester (and throughout your
academic career!)
A thoroughly completed Research Trail will put you on the path toward a
well-documented research
paper and teach you a lot about conducting quality research at UMBC and most any
library or archive.
The Library Research Trail
1. What is your research question? (All research begins with a question, not a topic. Most
researchers start with a broad question that narrows as research on the progresses. Remember
that for this class you are limited to a topic in American/U.S. history or a comparative U.S. topic.
2. Start your research by checking at least two subject encyclopedias or dictionaries for
background material on your research question. Subject encyclopedias and dictionaries are
located in the library's reference section.
Subject encyclopedias and dictionaries include works such as American National Biography
or The Encyclopedia of American History.
Subject encyclopedias are not the same as general encyclopedias or dictionaries
like Encyclopedia Britannica, Colliers, or Websters. This is true of print and online
versions. For example, Wikipedia is a general encyclopedia, not a subject encyclopedia.
General encyclopedias can be good as a launching point for research, but there are not enough. YOU MUST USE SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIAS FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT.
Subject encyclopedias and dictionaries are more narrowly focused volumes than general
encyclopedias. They include articles written by experts in the field.
The articles often also contain a brief bibliography (suggested readings) that will lead
you to other books and articles on your topic. You may not find the exact subject of your
research listed in any encyclopedia or dictionary, so look for articles that relate to your topic.
For example, if you are writing about the history of desegregation in a specific city or town's
schools during the 1950s and 60s, begin your research by looking at a subject encyclopedia
such as the African American Encyclopedia. Articles on the U.S. Supreme Court and/or the
Brown vs. Board of Education decision are good places to get an overview on the general
topic. A research question about unions and labor history might start with Labor Conflict
in the United States: An Encyclopedia and/or the Encyclopedia of American Social History.
The Library has hundreds of subject encyclopedias and dictionaries. These are a great
place to start your search for basic information about a topic. The
encyclopedia subjects are as varied as the African American Encyclopedia, the
Encyclopedia of the American Left, or the World Encyclopedia of Cartoons.
For an overview, go to the Library's online catalogue and under Books and Media type
encyclopedia and then enter.
You should see a long list (8000) of encyclopedias and related books. Obviously, this list is
too long, so try again and add search terms such as american history and topics like baseball.
There are other ways to access the library's list of encyclopedias and dictionaries.
One is to go to the library's homepage. Click on the “News and Events” tab and scroll down the menu to “New Resources.” Type history
in the field box, then click on "Find". You may then limit your search again by
typing in a keyword in the field box.
Be sure to spend a lot of time with subject encyclopedias and dictionaries.
They are an under utilized resource that can help speed you forward on a project.
The articles are written by experts, peer reviewed, and often include suggestions
for further reading.
3. Census Data
In the Library's catalog locate the multi-volume reference book:
Historical Statistics of the United States, Earliest Times to the Present, Susan B.
Carter, ed.
This source is also available online by subscription. The UMBC Library has a subscription,
but like all library databases, you must be on campus or login to the Library's
website through Research Port to access the online version.
The URL is: http://hsus.cambridge.org
You need to read the "How to Use Historical Statistics" sections in order to
answer the following questions and use the database.
a) What government office compiles this information?
b) How often does the government undertake a census count?
c) What geographic area is covered by the census?
d) What are the five categories (parts) used to organize the data in Historical Statistics?
Using the data:
e) How has life expectancy from birth for white males in the United States changed from1850-1998?
Be specific. Compare at least 3 decades to prove your conclusion.
f) What are the major categories of "Public Expenditures on Social Welfare: 1890-1995" and
which category was the largest in 1995? Which was the largest in 1890? What does this
comparison tell you about the history of social welfare policy in the United States.
g) Could the census teach you anything useful relevant to your research question?
The U.S. Census Bureau also maintains a useful website with census data:
http://www.census.gov/
4. There is also a helpful online database of U.S. census information covering 1790-1960.
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/
You may access this website and other useful census materials through the library website
by typing census in the Quick Searches Database tab on the library's homepage. Then scroll
down the page to: "Historical US Census Data"
This census website was complied by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and
Social Research (ICPSR).
It is a nice source because it lets you choose different variables for searching the
database on historical topics and allows you to look by state and sometimes by county.
a) What was the population of Maryland in 1880?
b) Which state had the most slaves in 1860?
c) Which state had the highest number of white females attending school in 1890?
d) In 1930, which state had the highest number of individuals over 10 years of age who could not read?
e) Could this database help you answer a question relevant to your research question?
5. Search the Library's online catalog for books related to your topic. The Library's
online catalogue "catalogueusmai" allows you to search for books located in the UMBC
library as well as those housed at other University of Maryland System schools and
affiliated institutions. You may order any book housed at a USMAI library.
List five books (full bibliographic citations) discovered in your search that you think
will be beneficial to your project. (
Remember, you will need to do general reading on issues related to your
topic. So, for example, if you are researching the history of African American steel
workers in Baltimore during World War II, you need to do some general reading in books
that give an overview of the entire U.S. home front, or discuss other cities during the
war, not just books on World War II in Baltimore.)
Are these books owned by the UMBC library or will you need to request them from another
University of Maryland System library?---or will you have to go outside the UM System and
use Inter-Library Loan? (ILL is a free service that allows you to order books and articles
from libraries outside the UM System)
6. From the the Library's "Historical Studies Research Guide" http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/subjectguides/HISTGEN-SG/index.php
link to "New York Times Historical"
a) Find at least 2 articles related to your research question in the NYT.
Newspapers are a great primary source, however, only few are indexed and keyword
searchable through the online database.
The large filling cabinets on the Library's second floor also house microfilm versions of
the New York Times and several other newspapers.
b) Name at least one newspaper or journal other than the NYT housed in the microfilm section
of the UMBC Library.
The area's best collection of newspapers
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/ncp.html) is housed at the Library of Congress
(http://www.loc.gov) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
7. For many years the Readers Guide was the primary source for information about
articles published in popular magazines. The Readers Guide is still used by historians. The
indexes are only available as books.
List an article cited in the Readers Guide that was published in the same period as your
research topic.
8. Locate at least three scholarly journal articles that you think might be helpful to
your research and give their full citations below. You do not need to include the full text
of the article as documentation (although you may want to print out a copy for yourself
to use later). Be sure to use a scholarly journal. Scholarly journals include footnotes or
endnotes, and are refereed by experts in the field (there will be a listing of an editorial
board of experts at the front of each journal issue). Popular magazines such as Time,
Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, etc. are NOT scholarly journals.
There is a good list of databases for journal articles on the Historical Studies Research Guide
under Full-text Electronic Archives
Three of the most popular databases for journal articles on American history are:
America, History and Life
The History Cooperative
JSTOR
Use Historical Abstracts if you are looking for scholarly published articles in non-US history.
Article citations should follow standard bibliography format used by historians:
Appleby, Joyce. "Presidents, Congress, and Courts: Partisan Passions in Motion."
Journal of American History. 88 (September): 408-414.
List the three articles (in the required bibliography format) that relate to your
research question.
9. Finding biographical information has also become easier with online databases.
The library's "Historical Studies Reference Guide"
(http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/subjectguides/HISTGEN-SG.php) is also helpful for this exercise.
Look under "Biographical Information -- Online Indexes"
Identify someone related to your research topic. If you can't think of anyone, pick a
prominent person in American history.
Use one of the databases to find a biographical essay on this person.
a) What individual did you choose?
b) Which database did you use?
10. WorldCat is the
most accessible source for finding manuscript collections
housed in archives. Manuscript collections are generally those that are
unpublished
materials such as letters, diaries, and other personal papers. They can also be
the
records of government agencies, businesses, or other institutions.
a) For practice, find the location of Franklin Roosevelt's manuscript papers
using WorldCat On the library's homepage type
WorldCat in the Keyword
field box.
Then click on "WorldCat"
and then search for roosevelt and
franklin and click the "Archive materials" box.
The database will show you the many collections that contain papers by
Franklin Roosevelt. Which are the most important collections for someone
researching FDR’s presidency?
b) Are there any
manuscript collections that might be useful in your research?
Knowing the names of key players in your story will help you identify
possibilities.
11. Later in the semester
we will discuss additional online resources such as the Library of
Congress's American Memory Project (http://memory.loc.gov/)
and other valuable digital
materials. The Library Research Trail assignment is designed to help you feel
more
comfortable with the resources available in and through the A. O. Kuhn Library.
Reading
books, journal articles, and spending time in the library and its archives are
key to being
a successful researcher.
(This question is a
freebie. You don't have to write anything for #11, but I want you to start
thinking about the best ways to use Internet sources.)
Plan to spend a lot of time working in the library or archive (virtually and in
"real" time and space) this semester. That is what
"doing history" is all about. There is no better place for building your
prospective
bibliography and for building marketable skills that will help you throughout
your lifetime.
For now, you're off and running!