Becoming a Historian How do I find stuff? The Research Journey

Becoming a Historian How do I find stuff?

The Research Journey

• use a wide variety of sources

• use secondary sources to find the context (who, what, when, where, etc.)

• understand and use appropriately primary sources (original, first-hand) to develop your own ideas (the “why?”)

• reflect a balance of various viewpoints and perspectives (Ex: how did the COLONIZERS react and how did the COLONIZED react)

When you do your research:

Each step in your journey calls for different sources

#1: General Secondary SourcesEncyclopedia/Wikipedia

Textbook

#2 Specific Secondary SourcesGeneral history books on topic

Magazine articles

#3 Primary SourcesSpecialized, narrow -focused books and journals by experts,

historians.Primary sources - from

special collections, interviews with experts, participants, witnesses.

WHERE YOU MAKE HISTORY!

Secondary Sources

Materials that make an argument or offer interpretation built upon primary

sources.

Where do we begin???

INTERNET WARNING Not all internet sources are equal

• Google, Yahoo, Ask.com are search engines, NOT sources. Just the way that a LIBRARY is not a source, but a place that has sources!

Wikipedia• ORIGIN – Is Wikipedia a primary or secondary

source? Who writes these articles? When were these articles written?

• PURPOSE – Why does Wikipedia or any encyclopedia exist? What is the purpose of this type of source?

• VALUE – Why is Wikipedia a helpful source? What do encyclopedias provide as part of the research process?

• LIMITATIONS – Why is it not the most valid source? Why are encyclopedias limited resources?

BOOKS or ARTICLES

• In encyclopedia & general reference books

• In textbooks

• By historians on a narrow subject

• By historians that summarizes or synthesizes others’ works

• By writers summarizing historians

ALWAYS START

What do I do with all of the sources I’ve

collected?!?

Note-Taking

Gathering & Recording Information

• Summarizing

• Quoting

• Paraphrasing

These are the three most

common types of note-taking!

When you find an important piece of information in one of your sources,

decide if you should quote, paraphrase or summarize it in your notebook. No matter which approach

you choose, you must cite your sources in your bibliography!

• When the author has phrased something particularly well or when the words express a meaning as no other words could.

• Most of the time, putting another's ideas into your own words. (To avoid plagiarizing, you must change both the sentence structure and the words of the original text.)

• To record in your own words the essence of a passage without examples and explanations. These notes are usually for less important or repetitive information.

What’s the DIFFERENCE?

QUOTING

Paraphrasing

SUMMARIZE

Secondary Source: Textbook

You will use the Index at the back of the textbook to look up your colonized country!

Turn to the back of your textbook and let’s all look up the colonized country of:

Kenya


Kenya: 726-727, 820, 908, 911-912, 917

Now I have to read all these pages to see if any of the information is worth recording in my notebook!

Do these pages discuss:

• Kenya being taken over and why (motives),

• How Kenya was taken over (motivations),

• Experiences: how did the Kenyans react to the British take-over?

Turn to pgs. 726-727!!!

World Studies Notebook

NOTES = Facts & Key Information: Important Dates, Events, and People(recorded in the form of a summary, paraphrase or quotation)

Page #(for paraphrase or quotations only!)

Begin, by creating this “Notes Log” in your notebook:

Colonizer Country: Great Britain Colonized Country: Kenya

Pgs. 726-727

• Now we begin reading our research materials (textbook) to figure out what notes to record!

• Read “Setting the Scene” and decide if we should record any notes on our log.

World Studies NotebookNOTES = Facts & Key Information: Important Dates, Events, and People(recorded in the form of a summary, paraphrase or quotation)


Kikuyu people – treated like 2nd hand citizens

This is summary info.




Early 1900s: type of rule = colony

Record anything that you read

from your Ch. 25, Sec. 1 Cornell

Notes!!!





British colonists pushed Kenyans off the best land; a few managed to keep their land yet were not allowed to grow products that would make them money such as coffee and sisal.

Pg. 726

Paraphrasing must cite the page #





British colonists pushed Kenyans off the best land; a few managed to keep their land yet were not allowed to grow products that would make them money such as coffee and sisal.

Pg. 726

Quoting must cite the page

#

“Many western-educated African criticized the injustice of imperial rule…Inspired by President Woodrow Wilson’s call for self-determination, they condemned the system that excluded Africans from political control of

their own lands.”

Pg. 726


Kenya: 726-727, 820, 908, 911-912, 917

** I’m finished with the notes from pgs. 726-727, now let’s all turn to pg. 820.

Pg. 820 – as we read, it doesn’t provide any info. about Kenya during this time of imperialism so I don’t record notes from that page!

Then I move on to pg. 908, etc

BIG TIP THE BEST SECONDARY

SOURCES CAN LEAD TO:

– OTHER KEY SECONDARY SOURCES

– WHERE TO FIND PRIMARY SOURCES

– AND WILL OFTEN CONTAIN PRIMARY SOURCES YOU CAN USE! (are there any maps, charts, cartoons from those pages in the textbook that we can use??)


Those initial pages jump started my research, now:

1. You may also look up in your textbook index the nation that established the colonies to see if there are any pages about their perspective (Ex: Great Britain)

2. Use the “key words” from your research to look up: people involved in the struggle for independence, dates, places, and any other related topics. (Ex: Kikuyu)

Bibliography: Textbook

Now that I took all these great notes, I have to ensure I give credit for my research:

Basic book entry: Author. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year of Publication.

Guillermo, Kathy Snow. Monkey Business. Washington, DC: National Press Books, 1993.

Open your textbook to the inside of the first page and let’s try to find all

5 required parts!

NOTES = Facts & Key Information: Important Dates, Events, and People(recorded in the form of a summary, paraphrase or quotation)

Page #(for paraphrase or quotations

only!)

Source Bibliography Entry

Is this a primary or secondary source? __________________________

Colonizer Country: Great Britain Colonized Country: Kenya

Ellis, Elizabeth and Anthony Esler. World H…...

Questions????

Becoming a Historian How do I find stuff? The Research Journey

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