Preface -- New to this edition -- Introduction: What it means to be a historian -- Part I: Basic research -- 1. Historians and the research process : getting started -- How scholarly information is communicated -- What historians do and how they do it -- How to think historically -- Beginning your research -- Where do viable and interesting topics come from? -- Developing a question and formulating an argument -- The blueprint : concept maps, storyboarding, and outlines -- Taking notes -- Creating bibliographies and documenting sources -- The changing nature of historical research and what remains the same -- For further reading -- 2. Reference resources -- What are reference resources and when are they useful? -- How to find reference resources -- Types of reference resources -- Encyclopedias -- Bibliographies -- Multivolume general histories -- Biographical resources -- Chronologies -- Dictionaries, etymologies, and word origins -- Book reviews -- Directories -- Using the Internet as a reference resource -- Case study: Using reference resources to understand Herodotus -- 3. Finding monographs and using catalogs -- What is a book? The changing nature of monographs -- When are books the right choice for information? -- How to use a book artfully -- Finding monographs and using catalogs -- Navigating a library portal/finding the catalog -- Strategic searching : keyword vs. subject searching -- Keyword searching -- Subject searching -- Alternative searching : faceted catalogs and limiting -- How to read an online catalog record -- Finding monographs and using catalogs outside of your school -- Sources for catalogs -- Where else can I find monographs? -- Case study: Finding and using monographs : the spread of Islam in western Africa -- 4. Finding journals, magazines, and newspapers : using indexes -- What are periodicals (or journals, magazines, newspapers)? -- Journals vs. magazines -- Commentary periodicals -- The role of newspapers in secondary historical research -- Journal articles : the core of secondary periodical research -- How to read a journal article -- How to find articles : designing a search and using and index -- Using an online database : Historical abstracts and America : history and life -- Entering a keyword search in Historical abstracts -- What you will get : looking at your results -- Selecting other indexes -- E-journals and electronic collections of journals : JSTOR and Project Muse -- JSTOR, Project Muse, and periodical indexes -- Case study: Searching for periodical articles : Canton Trade System -- Selected historical indexes -- Selected periodical indexes of use to historians -- 5. Evaluating your sources -- Why evaluate your sources? -- Basic evaluation criteria -- Perspective and bias : historians and interpretation -- Scholarship or propaganda? -- Case study: Evaluating sources : Holocaust historians -- 6. The thrill of discovery : primary sources -- Definitions -- Nature and categories of primary sources -- Planning your project with primary sources -- Locating primary sources -- Digitization and electronic access to primary sources -- Published sources for mass consumption -- Books as primary sources -- Magazines and journals as primary sources -- Newspapers as primary sources -- Unpublished sources and manuscripts -- Catalogs, bibliographies, directories, and indexes for manuscripts -- Directories to archive repositories -- Documents from governments and other official bodies -- Indexes, full text sources, and bibliographies of government documents -- Directories/bibliographies for government/guides to government publications -- Genealogy and public records -- Guides for genealogy and public records -- Business records -- Directories and resources -- Oral history -- Guide to oral history repositories -- Material culture : buildings, artifacts, and objects -- History before 1400 : ancient and medieval cultures and those with substantial oral and material culture traditions -- Ancient history -- Medieval European history -- Indigenous peoples, former colonial nations, and African American history -- Using bibliographies to locate primary sources -- Bibliographies containing references to primary sources -- Evaluation -- Case study: Finding primary sources : tobacco through the ages -- For further reading -- Bibliography of advanced indexes to published primary sources -- 7. History and the Internet -- The Internet and research -- When is the Internet appropriate for historical research? -- Practicing history in the electronic age : using the Internet -- Using the Internet : the basics -- How do I access websites on the Internet? -- Search directories -- Search engines -- Meta-search engines -- What am I missing? The deep web or invisible web -- Special search techniques : finding primary sources on the Internet -- Searching for primary sources -- Historians communicating: using listservs and blogs for information -- Evaluation of websites -- General websites -- Evaluating sites concerned with primary sources -- Case study: Using the Internet : Japanese Americas and internment camps -- Part II: Advanced research techniques for primary sources -- 8. Digital history and big data -- What digital history is and is not -- Approaches to digital history -- How to perform simple digital textual analysis -- Digital textual analysis tools -- Examples of digital history projects -- Beginning your own digital history project -- For further reading -- 9. Maps : from simple to geographic information systems -- Maps as representations of our world -- A short history of maps and cartography -- Maps for navigation and commercial use -- Maps as political tools -- Maps as propaganda -- Maps marking territory -- Maps in war -- Components of modern maps -- Finding maps -- Categories of historical maps -- Map resources -- Gazetteers -- How to read a map -- Questions to ask when reading a map -- Planning your own map : simple to complex -- For further reading -- 10. Beyond the written word : finding, evaluating, and using images, motion pictures, and audio. The role of media in historical research : images throughout history -- Photography : real life captured? -- Art as visual media : painting and drawing -- Moving images : fact and fiction : newsreels, documentaries, motion pictures, and television programs -- Searching for visual media -- Collections of historic images -- Search engines and meta-search engines for images and indexes to image collections -- Images on the Internet : some cautions -- Digital video : using moving images -- Searching on the web -- Audio, music, and speech resources -- Searching for audio materials -- Copyright -- For further reading -- 11. Statistics : quantifying history. A society of statistics -- A short history of the evolution of statistical collection and analysis : What can you expect to find? -- Categorizing statistics : how they are collected and organized -- Demographics/vital statistics/census data -- Economic statistics -- Social statistics -- Public opinion and consumer preferences -- Gleaning statistics from primary sources -- Finding statistics -- How to think about the sources -- Search strategies -- Evaluating statistics : common problems with data collection and results -- Questions to evaluate data -- Data problems : signs that something is wrong -- Data sets : doing your own thing -- Selected resources -- Understanding statistics -- Collections of general statistics/statistical abstracts -- Almanacs and yearbooks -- Economic, financial, and commercial statistics -- General demographics and social characteristics -- Censuses -- Polls/public opinion -- Market research -- Major social surveys -- Bibliographies and indexes for statistics -- Finding and using data sets -- For further reading -- Case study: Contextualizing statistics -- Part III: Presenting your research -- 12. Presenting your research : traditional research paper, presentation, poster, or website? -- Creating a research paper -- Writing style -- Formulating an argument -- Paper construction -- Ebb and flow of paragraphs -- Public presenting -- Oral, slide, and poster presentations -- Creating a poster -- Creating websites for historical research -- Historical and scholarly websites -- Website design : how to begin -- Preplanning : the major considerations -- Navigation -- What every good website must have -- Writing text for the web -- Common mistakes to avoid on websites -- Case study: A student paper : "Americans and the bomb" -- For further reading -- Appendix A: Citation examples -- Appendix B: Information literacy guidelines and competencies for undergraduate History students -- Appendix C: Research checklist.
Summary:
The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students is the only book specifically designed to teach today's history students how to successfully select and use sources--primary, secondary, and electronic--to carry out and present their research. Expanded and updated, the third edition of The Information-Literate Historian continues to be an indispensable reference for historians, students, and other readers doing history research.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.