HIST 300: Print & Web Resources

1. HIST 300: Print & Web Resources Tamara Smith, Reference Librarian Langsdale Library tsmith@ubalt.edu 410-837-5072

2. Plan for Today • Review: Search Strategy • Review: Article Types • Primary v. Secondary Sources • Getting Books • Web Resources • Wrap-up

3. Review: Search Strategy • If your topic is too broad, add another concept (AND) • If your topic is too narrow, add synonyms and related terms (OR) • Different databases = different results (try more than one) • Scholarly vs. popular articles

4. Type of Article (see handout) • Popular: written for general audience; written at a high-school level or lower • Professional/Trade: written for fellow practitioners; uses specific vocabulary (jargon) • Scholarly: written by and for experts in the filed, scholars, and researchers; writing is very technical

5. Type of Article (cont.) • Not sure what type of article it is? Use Ulrich’s Periodical Directory to get more information about the journal in which the article appears

6. Ulrich’s Periodical Directory

7. Primary vs. Secondary Sources

8. Primary vs. Secondary Primary Sources Original accounts or records of historical events • Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters • Memoirs and autobiographies • Original documents (e.g. family Bible records) • Photographs, documentaries, sound recordings • Newspaper, magazine and journal articles and books written at the time about a particular event

9. Primary vs. Secondary Secondary Sources Written later and/or provide historical analysis • Textbooks • Reference sources • Other books and articles

10. Primary vs. Secondary • Photos, letters, and other original documents are considered primary even if they are reproduced in a book or other source (they are still artifacts) • When in doubt, ask professor or librarian

11. Primary or Secondary? Dr. Nix witnesses a fire and gives an interview about it in the Baltimore Sun Primary (fire) Reporter writes a book about Baltimore fires that mentions Dr. Nix Secondary (fire, Dr. Nix) Dr. Nix writes a book about Baltimore fires Primary (Dr. Nix’s writings) or Secondary (fire, Baltimore)

12. Finding Primary Resources (Print) • Library catalog (USMAI, Pratt, WorldCat) • Memoirs, personal narrative, autobiography, diaries, correspondence • Archives and Special Collections (Langsdale, Maryland Historical Society, Pratt, etc.) • Personal papers, photographs, organizational records, sound recordings, interviews

13. Finding Secondary Resources (Print) • Library catalog (USMAI, Pratt, WorldCat) • Biography, reference sources, history, interpretation • Library databases • Journal articles, reference sources • Thinks “parts of the whole” • Chapter(s) or paragraphs in a book • Part of a journal article

14. Getting Books and Articles • Use the Button • Check the library catalog (USMAI, not just UB) • Can’t find it in USMAI? Use ILL Express! • It’s free! • 2-4 business days for articles, 2-3 weeks for books (may take less time) • Questions? ill@ubalt.edu or 410-837-4283

15. Web Resources

16. Search Engines • Google isn’t the only search engine in town! • Alta Vista • Ask.com • Exalead • GigaBlast • MSN Live Search • Yahoo

17. Metasearch Engines • Search multiple search engines at once (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) • Clusty • Dogpile

18. Invisible Web • Google, Yahoo & Co.: “surface web” • Invisible Web = Deep Web • 500+ times larger than surface web • Images & other non-text files • Local content (page not generated until you make a request) • Fee-based sites (e.g., library databases) • Most information is free

19. Invisible Web Search Engines • CompletePlanet: http://www.completeplanet.com • Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/ • Librarian’s Index to the Internet:http://lii.org • Turbo10: http://turbo10.com

20. Academic Search Engines • Search invisible Web • Focus on academic sites • Colleges • Universities • Other scholarly institutions

21. Academic Search Engines • Directory of Open Access Journalshttp://www.doaj.org/ • Infominehttp://infomine.ucr.edu/ • OAIster (pronounced “oyster”)http://oaister.umdl.umich.edu/o/oaister/

22. Evaluating Web Resources • The 5 W’s of Evaluation • Who is the author of the web site? • What are their credentials (expertise)? • When was the information published or written? • Where was the information published? • Why was the page created? • These tips work for print, too

23. Evaluating Web Resources • Langsdale Tutorial: Web Evaluation • Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Evaluating Criteria

24. Questions?

25. Thank You! Tamara SmithReference Librariantsmith@ubalt.edu410-837-5072 HIST 300 Course Page: http://langsdale.ubalt.edu/howto/course_websites/fa09/hist300_nix.htm