Spring 2008 - S. Allen
reference contact: Pamela Skinner x2961

FINDING BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Use these sources for biographic background, llist of suggested readings, and leads on primary source material.

FINDING BOOKS & ARHIVAL MATERIAL

Five College Catalog

• Remember to use author (last name first) for works by a specific person
• And subject begins with for works about that person

WorldCat - Use WorldCat to expand your search for books and archival material beyond the Five-College area. Watch for items that are owned by only one library: such unique material is often not obtainable via interlibrary loan. If you plan to use interlibrary loan to request books and theses, please allow at least 2 weeks for delivery.

Archives USA - Searchable database listing personal papers and other primary source material housed in thousands of repositories across the United States.

FINDING ARTICLES

Use the databases below to identify articles and essays on your topic.

• Use the SC Links buttons within the databases below to see if Smith has the article you need either in electronic or print format
• If you identify an article from another source, use the Journal Locator to locate the article online or in print
• If you need to use interlibrary loan to requests articles, allow a week or so (though often the articles arrive within days)

  Interdisciplinary databases:

Academic Search Premier -1960 to present - Interdisciplinary; a good starting place for articles, both scholarly and popular.

J-STOR - Full text articles from scholarly journals; coverage lags ca. three years behind printed version of journals.

Project Muse - Full text articles from scholarly journals; coverage limited to ca. current 5-10 years.

For More Exhaustive Searches:

19th & early 20th century articles:

American Periodical Series - 1740 to 1900 - Digitized reproductions of more than 1,100 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century newspapers and periodicals. In progress.

Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) - 1802 to 1995

Readers' Guide Retrospective - 1890 to 1983

America's Historical Newspapers - 1690 to 1922
Cover-to-cover reproductions of hundreds of historic newspapers. In progress.

Chicago Defender Historical - 1905 to 1975

Los Angeles Times Historical - 1881 to 1986

New York Times Historical - 1851 to 2003

Washington Post Historical - 1877 to 1991

Anthropology:

Anthropology Plus - late 19th century to present - Lists journal articles, reports, and edited works in anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, etc.

Anthrosource - 2003 to present - Includes eleven of the American Anthropological Association's journals full-text. Also good for cultural anthropology.

Arts & Archaeology:

Art Abstracts - 1984 to present - Use to locate articles in the field of art, including folk art.
Art Index Retrospective - 1929 to 1983

ARTbibliographies Modern - 1974 to present - Covers information about late 19th- and 20-century fine arts, decorative arts, and design.

Biography:

Biography Index - 1984 to present
Indexes articles, books, and autobiographies for biographical subjects from antiquity to the present.

History:

America, History and Life - 1953 to present - Lists articles, book reviews, collections, and dissertations in American and Canadian history. Includes links to articles in J-STOR, Project Muse, etc.

FINDING IMAGES

Use the databases and websites on the Find Images page to look for portraits/images of the person you're researching. Note that images may show up in the article and newspaper databases listed above.

INTERNET RESOURCES

The internet is both a wonderful and perilous resource. Use it, but always with a critical eye. Keep the issues of authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency, and completeness at the forefront as you look at webpages. Two examples of more--or less--authoritative websites offering primary source material. Which would you be more comfortable relying on?

Sara Yorke Stevenson (http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/stevenson.html)

Phoebe Apperson Hearst (http://www.hearstcastle.com/history/phoebe_hearst.asp)

EVALUATING AND CITING SOURCES

• Remember to cite your souce, when either quoting directly or paraphasing.
• Cite your source whenever you present an idea that isn't your own.
• Websites must be cited in your notes/bibliography, too; if you cut and paste--or
  paraphrase--from a website, cite the webpage.
• When in doubt, cite your source.
• Use this link to connect to online versions of Turabian, MLA Style Guide, etc.:
  Style Manuals & Citation Guides
• Or use the Landmarks Citation Machine, which offers quick citation help for APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian style.

For help with your writing, remember the writing services available at the Jacobson Center.

Evaluating internet resources (Univ. of Maryland)

Using Primary Sources on the Web: Evaluating Primary Source Websites (Instruction & Research Services Committee, Reference and User Service Association History Section, American Library Association)

REFERENCE DESK HOURS

Click here for Neilson Library reference desk hours.

CONTACT THE REFERENCE LIBRARIAN

Contact Pamela Skinner, the instructor for your library session: pskinner@email.smith.edu

YOUR FEEDBACK

Click here to provide feedback on this library session.

TAKE THE RESEARCH SKILLS QUIZ

Logon to Moodle to take the quiz "Research Skills for Students" (if you haven't done so already).

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