University of Montevallo

Carmichael Library

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Welcome to the History 310 Guide

This guide is the starting point for identifying, locating, using, and evaluating materials relating to History in the Carmichael Library and on Internet. If you need additional assistance, please Ask a Librarian or contact Kathleen Lowe, Reference and Instruction Librarian, at lowek@montevallo.edu or 665-6109

HIS310/ Dr. Barone

This guide is designed to assist you in your History 310 assignments

History Journals

Check the CATALOG > Journal Title to locate the exact volume and year.

Choices for the Journal Review Assignment

Alabama Heritage

Alabama Review

American Historical Review (full text in JSTOR 1895-2002)

Civil War History

Civilization

English Historical Review

French Historical Studies

Journal of British studies

Journal of Negro History (full text in JSTOR 1916-2001)

Journal of Southern History (full text in JSTOR 1935-2003)

Past & Present

Sixteenth Century Journal

Speculum

William and Mary Quarterly (full text in JSTOR 1892-2006)

Journal Review Assignment Tips

Ulrich's Periodicals Directory
Located on the Library Database list, this is a trusted source for basic information about your journal such as circulation, indexing, and brief reviews.

Alabama Review
Homepage for the quarterly journal published by University of Alabama Press.

Journal of Southern History
Published quarterly by The Southern Historical Association

JSTOR
Full text of many history journals often including their first issue. Browse by Title to verify JSTOR holdings.

Library Databases for peer reviewed journal articles
The following electronic sources provide access to authoritative and scholarly analysis of a topic in history in peer reviewed journals.

America History and Life

America: History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises over 450,000 bibliographic entries, providing an incomparable research tool for students and researchers of US and Canadian history.

This extensive database covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide. In addition to covering all key English-language historical journals, America: History and Life coverage includes selected historical journals from major countries, state and local history journals, and a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities. Over 90% of the articles included are published in English-language journals.

In addition to articles, each year America: History and Life includes approximately 6,000 citations of book and media reviews from a selection of over one hundred key journals in US and Canadian history and related fields. The database also includes citations to abstracts of dissertations published in these areas.

Historical Abstracts

This database contains annotated references to books, articles, and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in America: History and Life).

Published since 1954, Historical Abstracts currently covers over 2,000 journals published throughout the world.

In addition to including the key historical journals from virtually every major country, Historical Abstracts includes a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities that are of special interest to researchers and students of history.

JSTOR (HINT...this is a good source for the Journal Review Assignment)
Academic journals comprise the majority of the content in the archive. Journals are always included from volume 1, issue 1 and include previous and related titles. The most recently published issues (past 3-5 years) are not available.

Annals of American History

Additional Library Databases

Books

Books can be both primary and secondary sources. The Library Catalog contains records for primary sources such as diaries, letters, and speeches. All books are secondary sources in the sense that they describe an event from the viewpoint of an author in a particular time period.

World Cat Index and Abstracts
Provides access to the citations for millions of books and other materials in our library and libraries around the world. Search in this database if the materials you are looking for are not available in this Library and see Interlibrary Loan

The Library Catalog provides access to authors, titles, and subjects. Historical research often requires special knowledge of the Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Researchers and students of history should consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings for the appropriate subject headings and additional ‘see references’.

Generally, searching the Library catalog or WorldCat using keywords as you would on Yahoo! or Google is not the most efficient way to locate library material in the field of history. Using the Library of Congress Subject Headings retrieves the most accurate list of library materials.

Library of Congress classification provides a method to arrange books on the library shelves by subject using call numbers. These call numbers can be used as a guide for browsing the shelves for books in History.

D: General History
DA: British History
DB: Austria-Hungary
DC: French History
DD: German History
DE: Classical History [General]
DF: Greece, Ancient and Modern
DG: Rome and Italy
DK: Russia
DL: Scandinavia
DP: Spain and Portugal
DS: Asia
- DS35-254: Middle East
- DS500s: South East Asia
- DS700s: China
- DS800s: Japan
DT: Africa
E70s: Native North Americans
E185s: African-Americans
F100-999: U.S. States
- F 321-335 Alabama
F1001-1121: Canada
F1204-1386: Mexico
F1434: Middle American Indians
F2229: South American Indians

WorldCat
Contains records of library materials worldwide. If a book you’re looking for is not available in our Library, consult WorldCat as well as the guidelines for Interlibrary Loan.

Book Reviews

Book reviews can serve many functions. Reviews are important ways to establish the credibility and authority of a book, because they often discuss the author's qualifications. Reading several reviews of the same book is valuable. A single review represents a single opinion and will often mirror the editorial policy of the publication in which it appears. Scholarly reviews often appear as much as four or five years after the publication of the book.

Reviews are indexed in many of the history databases such as:

America: History and Life
Covers the history of the United States and Canada, America: History and Life indexes book reviews from around 140 journals. Use the Search Option
screen to select Book Review

Historical Abstracts
Covers the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the Unite States and Canada, which are covered in America history and Life). Use the Search Option screen to select Book Review

JSTOR
Use the Advanced Search to limit to book reviews

Selected Reference Materials

Reference materials (e.g. encyclopedias, dictionaries, bibliographies, etc.) are often a good place to start your research.

Reference materials provide background for your topic
Provides the backbone for your research: Who, what, where, when, and why?
Bibliographies at the end of an entry can be "mined" for additional sources

The American Historical Association's Guide to Historical Literature
Ref. D 9 .A55 1995
Provides a selected list, with appropriate commentary, of books and articles in every field of historical scholarship. Works are chosen for inclusion on the basis of several factors: (1) reliable synthesis or reference works; (2) works that set the standard of excellence in various fields of history; (3) major alternative interpretations represented in scholarly debate.

Alabama History: An Annotated Bibliography
Ref. F 326 .A43 1998
The most current comprehensive bibliography of Alabama history. Indispensable for researchers. Complies the best and most usable books, articles, dissertations, theses, and reference works published through December 1996.

Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing
Ref. D 14 .E53 1999
Provides a guide to influential historians and historical debates including the western historical canon and beyond to include writers from other cultures and traditions.

Harvard Guide to American History
Ref. E 175.7 .H37 1974
The basic reference bibliography for American history. A selective listing covering the whole range of American history including citations to both books and periodical materials.

Writings on American History
Ref. E 172 .A60
An excellent annual bibliography and index to books and articles published on the history of the U.S. or Europe with some coverage of Latin America and the Pacific Islands. No bibliographies issued for 1904-9105, 1941-1947 due to war.

Magazine Articles

Popular magazines can provide primary and secondary evidence of the social and political history of an era. Print and electronic indexes to magazine articles of interest to historians are arranged chronically.

20^th Century - Current

Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature
The print version covers 1890-present. Contains comprehensive indexing and abstracting of the most popular general interest periodicals published in the United States.

Alternative Press Index
Comprehensive guide to alternative sources of information from over 300 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines.

Academic Search Premier
Academic Search Premier provides full text access to 4,600 journals including more than 3,900 peer reviewed publications.

19^th Century

Poole's index to periodical literature

Few works of scholarship can match the significance of William Frederick Poole's index to periodical literature, which remains a core resource for researching nineteenth--century topics.

Newspapers

New York Times
The Library provides a microfilm copy of the New York Times from 1856-present. Use the New York Times Index to find a particular topic/event by the year in which it occurred.

Proquest Historical Newspapers, New York Times (1851-2004)
Full text of New York Times from 1851-1994

ProQuest Newspapers
On-line full text access to the New York Times from about 1985 to the present is available on this database.

Lexis Nexis
Offers full text to current information from newspapers around the world, transcripts from leading newswire and television services and transcripts of many US government announcements.

Birmingham News
The Library has a microfilm copy of the Birmingham News from 1955-present. Primary source information from the Civil Rights era is of particular interest.

Shelby County Reporter
The Library has a microfilm copy of the Shelby County Reporter from 1927-present.

To locate newspapers of historical interest in Alabama, you may want to consult the following guide:

ADAH Alabama Department of Archives and History: Newspapers on Microfilm
Researchers can search a list of Alabama newspapers by county
For access to a particular newspaper, check with a Reference Librarian.

Biographical Information

Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Research
Ref. D 14 .E53 1999
Useful for biographical information or for locating a leading historian in a particular field of history. Biographical entries on leading historians generally provide lists of journal articles and books written by the historian.

Biography and Genealogy Master File Index
Library database to access citations to biographical information.

Contemporary Authors
Library database to access biographical information

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Library database to access biographical information

Directory of American Scholars
Ref. LA 2311 C32

Primary Sources

Primary sources provide an eyewitness account of an event.
Primary sources include manuscripts, archives, letters, diaries, and speeches.

The CATALOG provides access to letters, diaries, speeches and personal narratives in the collection. Include the keywords or phrases below in your search to locate primary sources:

· Personal narratives

· Diaries

· Correspondence

· Sources

· Records

· Letters

Examples of a keyword search in the CATALOG might be:

· Civil War and personal narratives

· Women pioneers and diaries

· Witchcraft and sources

In addition, the Library has some unique primary source materials on microfilm located on the Main Level in the Reference area. Included are colonial American newspapers from South Carolina and Virginia dating back to 1732.

Wikepedia Assignment

Choose a topic from the following list for your assignment.
Critical analysis of the Wikipedia entry and the additional source is similar to analysis of a book or journal article.

TOPICS come in pairs!

Topic 1 Pair 1
Children's Crusade (1212)
a. Wikepdia entry Children's Crusade
b. Pringle, Denys. "Children's Crusade (1212)." The Crusades: an Encyclopedia. 2006.
Ref. D 155 .C78 2006 (Main Floor Reference Collection)

Topic 2 Pair 2
King Philip's War (1675)
a. Wikipedia entry King Philip's War
b. Jennings, Matthew. "King Philip's War." Colonial America: an Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History. 2006.
Ref. E 162 .C68 2006

Topic 3 Pair 3
Black Power
a. Wikipedia entry Black Power
b. Van Deburg, William L. "Black Power Movement." Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. 2nd ed. 2006.
Ref. E 185 .E54 2005

Topic 4 Pair 4
Attack on Charles Sumner (May 22, 1856)
a. Wikipedia entry Charles Sumner- Service in the Senate- Antebellum career and attack by Preston Brooks
b. Abbott, Richard H. "Sumner, Caning Of." Encyclopedia of the Confederacy 1993.
Ref. E 487 .E55 1993

Topic 5 Pair 5
The Great Plague of London (1665)
a. Wikipedia entry Great Plague of London
b. Harvard University Library Open Collections Program The Great Plague of London, 1665

Topic 6 Pair 6
Tropical Diseases and the Panama Canal Construction
a. Wikipedia entry Health Measures during the construction of the Panama Canal
b. Harvard University Library Open Collections Program Tropical Diseases and the Construction of the Panama Canal

Further Readings on the Wikipedia Controversy
Wikipedia Watch

DIGITAL MAOISM
By Jaron Lanier

Wikipedia Survey
Joint venture of The Wikipedia Foundation and the Collaborative Community Group at UNU-MERIT

What is a Book Review?
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Writing Center
Book Reviews

Bibliographic Essay Assignment

"A bibliographic essay is a narrative discussion, a review, of the literature of a topic. It is the equivalent of a conversation in which someone not only advises you about "what's out there" but shapes that raw material into a coherent survey of the materials available. Like all bibliographies, the bibliographic essay enumerates sources and, like an annotated bibliography, it describes and analyses them; it goes beyond performing these functions, however, to comparing, contrasting, and evaluating the relationships among works. A bibliographic essay thus draws a picture of the literature of a topic, and in so doing, unlike a list and like an essay, it tends to take a position and establish an interpretive point of view." -- Haverford College Libraries, Reference Department,

Choose 5 Books on your topic
Ideally 1 book will be the book you reviewed for the Book Review Assignment

The Bibliographic Essay is a second, more extended format of reporting. It is in paragraph form; it is a written narrative, with bibliographic citations sprinkled into its narrative. The bibliographic essay is frequently used in the category of literature Freides calls "research reviews." - University of Oklahoma, School of Library and information Studies

Some examples of Bibliographic Essays include:

Nermin Eren, "A Bibliographic Essay on Crimean Tatars."
Thomas F. Glick, "Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages," the Library of Iberian Resources Online

Trouble finding 5 books on the same topic?
Encyclopedia of Historians & Historical Writing
(Ref. D 14 .E53 1999) Provides a guide to influential historians and historical debates...use the Further Readings as a guide to additional books on a topic
Reader's Guide to American History
(Ref. E 178 .R43 1997) "The Readers Guide takes the form of a series of essays which describe and assess books on some 600 different topics" . Excellent source for books on a topic in American History!

Of Interest
AHA: History Doctoral Programs in the United States and Canada

Careers for History Majors

Careers in Public History

History Matters
Designed for high school and college teachers and students of U.S. history survey courses, this site serves as a gateway to web resources and offers unique teaching materials, first-person primary documents, and guides to analyzing historical evidence.

Organization of American Historians Publications, Reports