HIST T325: History of the Americas   Tags: america, colonial, history, latin_america  

When you are assigned a research paper or project, you may feel a little overwhelmed. There is so much information, and so little time!

How do you go about finding just the information you need? Experienced researchers follow a process called a "search strategy." The search strategy outlined in following pages will help guide you through the process of finding primary and secondary sources for your research paper.

Start your research as early as possible. The extra lead time will allow you to take full advantage of the services offered by the library, including specialized reference assistance and document delivery of items not available in the Helmke Library.

Here are some resources to get you started:

• Doing Library Research
• Helmke Library Self-Guided Tour
• Foraging for Information Worksheet

FIRST: Use specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, guides, and textbooks to identify who, what, when, where, how and why.

SECOND: Use the references cited at the end of chapters or articles in textbooks, specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, and guides, and specialized bibliographies to identify the core scholarly research on your topic or research problem.

THIRD: Use databases and indexes to update core scholarly research with current scholarly material.

FORTH: Identify and obtain as much primary source material as possible. A primary source documents first-hand accounts or first recordings of events. The historian using a number of such primary sources produces a secondary source. Examples of primary source materials include letters, diaries, memoirs, speeches, contemporaneous newspaper accounts, government documents, statistics, photographs, etc. Consult the History librarian for help in locating primary source materials.