History Guide
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1 Differences between Books / Articles, Scholarly Journals / Magazines, Primary Sources / Secondary Sources Books and Articles Books Articles Length Lengthy frequently 100+ pages Brief normally 1-20 pages Content Broad scope, high detail, big picture Narrow scope, high detail, greater specificity of focus Coverage Historical, summary It takes time to write, edit, and publish a good book on a topic, so do n t look for current developments here Current Articles take less time to write and publish, so they cover recent developments sooner, but with less depth of analysis May be useful for Essays representing multiple viewpoints; Overviews on a topic or event Report of a single piece of research or investigation; Tracking the evolution of the popular perception of an event or issue over time Where to look for Library Catalog Article Databases Scholarly Journals and Magazines / Newspapers Magazines & Newspapers (Popular) Journals (Scholarly) Intended audience General public Professionals in a field Scholars / Experts Articles written by Reporters Journalists Almost anyone Professionals in a field Scholars Experts Content News Non-technical language Entertainment and general- interest articles No bibliographies or formal references In-depth research Technical language Original research studies Bibliographies & references More often objective than magazines Appearance Consumer advertising Glossy photos Attractive layout Dense text Fewer, more specialized ads Publication schedule Weekly Daily Available at newsstands Monthly Quarterly Biannually Subscription only Can be useful for Broad overview of complex issues Popular perspective on any issue Finding ou t what s being written about a topic generally Current research findings Checking accuracy of data or statistics Reviewing the important research on a specific topic or theme Examples Time, U.S. News & World Report, and National Geographic Journal of American History, Journal of Contemporary History Primary and Secondary Sources Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers. "Primary sources originate in the time period that historians are studying. They vary a great deal. They may include personal memoirs, government documents, transcripts of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions, archaeological and biological evidence, and visual sources like paintings and photographs. " ( Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History: A guide for Students . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18). Secondary Sources "Secondary works reflect on earlier times. Typically, they are books and articles by writers who are interpreting the events and primary sources that you are studying. Secondary works vary a great deal, from books by professional scholars to journalistic accounts. Evaluate each secondary work on its own
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History Guide
Transcript of History Guide
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Differences between Books / Articles, Scholarly Journals / Magazines, Primary Sources / Secondary Sources
Books and Articles Books Articles
Length Lengthy frequently 100+ pages Brief normally 1-20 pages Content Broad scope, high detail, big picture
Narrow scope, high detail, greater specificity of focus
Coverage Historical, summary It takes time to write, edit, and publish a good book on a topic, so don t look for current developments here
Current Articles take less time to write and publish, so they cover recent developments sooner, but with less depth of analysis
May be useful for Essays representing multiple viewpoints; Overviews on a topic or event
Report of a single piece of research or investigation; Tracking the evolution of the popular perception of an event or issue over time
Where to look for Library Catalog Article Databases
Scholarly Journals and Magazines / Newspapers Magazines & Newspapers (Popular) Journals (Scholarly)
Intended audience
General public
Professionals in a field
Scholars / Experts Articles written by
Reporters
Journalists
Almost anyone
Professionals in a field
Scholars
Experts Content
News
Non-technical language
Entertainment and general-interest articles
No bibliographies or formal references
In-depth research
Technical language
Original research studies
Bibliographies & references
More often objective than magazines
Appearance
Consumer advertising
Glossy photos
Attractive layout
Dense text
Fewer, more specialized ads
Publication schedule
Weekly
Daily
Available at newsstands
Monthly
Quarterly
Biannually
Subscription only Can be useful for
Broad overview of complex issues
Popular perspective on any issue
Finding out what s being written about a topic generally
Current research findings
Checking accuracy of data or statistics
Reviewing the important research on a specific topic or theme
Examples Time, U.S. News & World Report, and National Geographic
Journal of American History, Journal of Contemporary History
Primary and Secondary Sources Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence left behind by participants or observers. "Primary sources originate in the time period that historians are studying. They vary a great deal. They may include personal memoirs, government documents, transcripts of legal proceedings, oral histories and traditions, archaeological and biological evidence, and visual sources like paintings and photographs. " ( Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History: A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18).
Secondary Sources "Secondary works reflect on earlier times. Typically, they are books and articles by writers who are interpreting the events and primary sources that you are studying. Secondary works vary a great deal, from books by professional scholars to journalistic accounts. Evaluate each secondary work on its own
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merits, particularly on how well it uses primary sources as evidence." ( Storey, William Kelleher. Writing History: A guide for Students. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999, p.18-19).
Examples of Primary and Secondary Sources
Primary Sources Secondary Sources Definition
Primary Sources are the first hand evidence left behind by participants or observers at the time of events.
Secondary Sources are materials that digest, analyze, evaluate and interpret information contained within primary sources or other secondary sources.
Examples
Autobiographies, memoirs, diaries, emails, narratives, eyewitnesses
Letters, correspondences
First-hand newspaper and magazine accounts of events
Legal cases, treaties
Statistics, surveys, opinion polls, scientific data
Records of organizations and government agencies
Original works of literature, art or music
Cartoons, postcards, posters
Map, photographs, films
Objects and artifacts that reflect the time period in which they were created
Books, such as biographies (not an autobiography), textbooks, Encyclopedias, dictionaries, handbooks
Articles, such as literature reviews, commentaries, research articles in all subject disciplines
Criticism of works of literature, art and music
To learn more about how to search primary sources, please check the following web page: http://www.calstatela.edu/library/bi/hyu3/primarysources.htm
History Databases America: History & Life (U.S. & Canada, Index & Abstracts)
Not a full-text database. It contains abstracts from more than 2,100 journals and Ph.D. dissertations covering the United States and Canadian history and culture (from prehistoric times to the present).
Historical Abstracts (World History excluding U.S. and Canada, Index & Abstracts) Not a full-text database. It covers all world history from1450 to present excluding the United States and Canadian history. It also covers related historical areas of the social sciences and humanities, including culture, diplomacy, economics, international relations, and politics.
JSTOR (Full Text) A full-text database. Contains the full-text articles from 40 history journals. Coverage varies according to journal. JSTOR provides two methods of accessing its content: searching and browsing.
Humanities Abstracts (Index & Abstracts) Index with abstracts to about 400 English-language journals in humanities. It covers publications from 1984 to date.
EBSCOHost Academic Search Premier (Mixed Index/Abstracts and Full Text) Provides complete, cumulative, cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting of the contents for over 4,250 scholarly journals with many dating back to 1984. Nearly 3,260 of the scholarly publications are available in full-text.
Project Muse (Full Text) Project Muse contains full-text articles published in 106 scholarly journals from Johns Hopkins University Press. It allows users to perform keyword and Boolean searching for full text articles across all journals in the database; to browse by journal title or subject.
Historical Statistics of the United States A standard source for the quantitative facts of American history. Data include social, behavioral, humanistic, and natural sciences including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade. The database is fully searchable and downloadable.
Historic Los Angeles Times (1881-1985) Historical Los Angeles Times offers completely searchable full text and full image coverage from 1881-1985. It gives quick and accurate Web access to articles, editorials, classified ads, comics, cartoons, photos, maps, and graphics.
Holly Yu [email protected] 10/06
