WRT 205
Critical Inquiry and Research
"Fighting in the Streets": A Class About Riots
Spring 2007
Librarian:
Catherine Johnson
crjohn01@syr.edu
SU Library website: http://library.syr.edu
Send A Question to the Library: http://library.syr.edu/information/formsref_question/ref_question.htm
IM: SULibraryHelp
(AIM, Yahoo & MSN messenger)
Telephone, Bird Library Reference: 315-443-4083
Topics covered in this class:
Where to Look for Information (databases, etc.)
Citations (MLA)
Primary Sources
- Information in original form
- Rare, fragile
- Used often in history, science
Secondary Sources
- Removed from original source, repackaged
- Restatement, examination, interpretation of primary sources.
Examples of Primary Sources
- Diaries, memoirs, blogs
- Interviews
- Letters, e-mails
- Original documents (e.g., birth certificate)
- Patents
- Photographs, paintings
- Proceedings of meetings, conferences and symposia
- Survey research (market surveys, public opinion polls)
- Magazine or newspaper articles (from the time period you are writing about)
- Speeches
- Audio/video recordings
Examples of Secondary Sources
- Biographies
- Commentaries
- Dissertations
- Indexes, abstracts, bibliographies (used to locate primary & secondary sources)
- Journal articles
- Monographs (books)
For additional information, check out:
- How to Distinguish between Primary and Secondary Sources . University of California, Santa Cruz
- The Learning Page. The Library of Congress
The distinction between popular and scholarly, or "peer reviewed," resources can be tricky. It is often difficult to tell which category a source fits into from the citation alone. It will not be uncommon for you to have to physically look at the source to evaluate which category it will fall into. The following criteria can be used as guidelines for your evaluation.
Popular
Scholarly
Author
staff writer
practitioners in the field
journalist
scholars
researchers
experts in the field
Audience
general public
practitioners in the field
educated public
scholars
researchers
experts in the field
Language
non-technical
domain specific
academic
technical vocabulary
Citations
rare
reference list
bibliography
footnotes
Features
current information
news stories
current professional trends and practices
special interest stories
commentary on politics and society
original research papers
in-depth analysis of topics
Editors/ Reviewers
editors on staff
articles are evaluated by a selected review board of scholars (refereed/peer reviewed)
Advertising
common
limited
rare
Published
daily
weekly
monthly
quarterly
bi-monthly
Examples
Sports Illustrated
Reader's Digest
U.S. News & World Report
New York TimesCloning and Stem Cells
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Journal of International Consumer Marketing
Summit Catalog -- http://summit.syr.edu
In the Summit Catalog you’ll find books, periodicals, movies, microfilm or anything else the library owns. You can search by keyword, subject term of a variety of other categories. When you perform your search, be sure to select the correct category in the box on the right.
Databases
General (good for background information):
Expanded Academic ASAP
Proquest Research Library
Masterfile Select
Wilson Full Text (OmniFile)
Subject Specific:
Description: Photographs and audio clips from the Associated Press News Services and their archive. Coverage is from the 1850s to the present, although there are only a few hundred photos dating before 1900.
Description: Archive of television news. The collection holds more than 30,000 individual network evening news broadcasts from the major U.S. national broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, and more than 9,000 hours of special news- related programming including ABC's Nightline since 1989. Syracuse University Library is a sponsoring institution of the Television News Archive. Note: Users must register before searching; registration form available on the "TV- NewsSearch" page.
Description: Index and abstracts providing historical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from over 2,000 journals published worldwide.
Description: The New York Times (1851-2003) offers full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Description: Index to the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the United States. Coverage is 1890 through 1982.
Description: Women and Social Movements in the United States brings together books, images, documents, scholarly essays, commentaries, and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women’s reform activities.
Description: Index to over 3,000 collections of letters, diaries, oral histories, and other personal narratives available freely on the web and from Alexander Street Press. Includes full-text content when available.
Description: Collection of oral history interviews.
Description: Full-text database of selected newspapers, magazines, and journals of the alternative and independent press.
CQ (Congressional Quarterly) Researcher
Description: An encyclopedia addressing public policy issues. Over 44 reports are released each year, covering legislative action in areas ranging from social and teen issues to environment, health and nutrition, education, international affairs, economics and science and technology. Each report focuses on a single topic and features concise background discussion and chronologies, overviews of the current situation, pro and con commentary, as well as online links to relevant organizations, and a lengthy bibliography of related books and articles. Covers 1991-present.
Web Resources
American Memory from Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. This is a great place to find unique primary source material.
Further Suggestions and Other Sites:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/PrimarySourcesOnTheWeb.html
The library at Berkeley provides a list of other great web resources for primary source material. The sites listed here are similar to the American Memory project.
If you are trying to access databases from off campus and it's not working, visit the "Instructions for Remote Access" website.
Suggested Subject Terms
Riots
The Name of the Riot
For example: Watts Riot
The issue involved
For example: Race
Demonstrations
Mobs
Suggested Keywords
“Name of the Riot”
For example: “Watts Riot”
Place AND Riot
For example: California AND Roit
Los Angles AND Riot
Brainstorming Search Terms:
When you have chosen your research statement or question, take some time to break the statement down into key terms or phrases. You will use these terms in the various databases to find sources on your topic.
Example: Use of dialect to establish community/identity or as a social barrier.
Key Terms: Dialect, community, identity, social barriersSome hints for choosing search terms:
Be flexible: After dividing you statement into key terms, think of alternative terms, such as synonyms, or broader, narrower, or related terms. Each database may use different keyword or subject terms to describe a topic.
Example: Dialect (broader- African Americans languages; narrower - Ebonics or Black English)
Think globally and chronologically: Consider terms that contain a geographic area, or a broad or specific time period.
MLA Style (Modern Language Association
Commonly used for: literature, writing, arts, humanities
- Citation Style Guide: From the Writers' Workshop at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
- MLA: Citing Internet Sources: From "Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources" by Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger (Bedford/St. Martins, 2003).
Print version at SU Library:
- MLA Handbook for writers of research papers, 6th edition (2003). New York: Modern Language Association LB 2369 G53 2003
