Library Session #1 CMS/Turabian: why do scholars use style guides? |
Historians use Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) when writing articles and books, so anyone wishing to join the scholarly community of historians must learn how to use it as well. Undergraduates commonly use a distilation of the most common citations and formats of CMS. This volume is referred to as Turabian, after its author, Kate L. Turabian.
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Research Tools:
Kate Turabian. A Manual for Writers ...
Explanations
Problems
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Library Session #2 Introduction to Primary Sources on Technology and the Environment: WorldCat, WorldCat Local, GLOCAT |
Finding primary sources for this course on the relationship between technology and the environment in modern America can be challenging. This is because many of the primary sources you will be looking for (personal and organizational papers) are unpublished and kept only in archival collections in libraries, museums, historical societies, and agency offices all over the country. |
Research Tools:
GLOCAT and WorldCat
Examples
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Library Session #3 History Journal Articles and Book Reviews |
In preparation for your research project using primary sources, you will be consulting secondary sources: articles written by historians and published in scholarly journals. The most useful research database used to find these sources is called America: History and Life. (There are others to try as well, but America: History and Life is the only one that covers only history journals.) In addition to scholarly articles, this database lists book reviews from these same history journals.
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Research Tools:
American History and Life
H-Net Reviews
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| Library Session #4 Online Primary Sources |
The internet can be a great source of information as you begin to research a topic. Many environmental organizations and government agencies have web pages, with information, histories, and even some primary sources that relate to the history of the organization.
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Research Tools:
*Environmental Web Sites
*Environmental Organizations
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Library Session #5 Government Documents
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Because governments are involved in the conservation of natural resources and public safety, most students researching the technology-environment relationship will need to use government documents at some point. The US government issues millions of documents per year, and state governments issue thousands. (In this case "document" may refer to a one-page fact sheet, a short pamphlet, a weekly magazine, a full-length book, a multi-volume set of books, etc.)
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Research Tools:
*Monthly Catalog (aka Catalog of U.S. Gov. Publications)
*WorldCat
*GPO Access
*Congressional Record
*Flowchart, Handout
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| Library Session #6 Congressional Record, GPO Access, Thomas |
At some point during your research of the technology-environment relationship, you will have to track environmental legislation. You can do this by reading the Congressional Record, which is the transcript of what is said on the floor of congress.
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Research Tools:
Congressional Record
GPO Access
Thomas
WorldCat
Notes
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| Library Session #7 Newspapers, New York Times, popular magazines, Readers' Guide |
Newspapers are excellent resources for history research because of three reasons: the frequency of publication means you get the story as it unfolds, every city or town has a newspaper so you get local news that national publications might not cover, and the letters to the editors give local, often dissenting, opinion on events. The drawbacks are that many newspapers that were in publication in the past are no longer published, so finding archives of them online is impossible. Even the newspapers currently in publication that started as far back as you need will not have those older issues archived online. Finding out what newspapers were in publication in a certain town and time period is the first step.
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Research Tools:
*Newspaperlinks.com
*Newspapers in Microform, 1948-1972
*American Newspapers, 1821-1936
*New York Times Index and *NYT Article Archive
Chronicling America
Notes
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