HIST 2630 - Historical Methods - TURNER: Gather Background Information + Develop a Topic
This guide contains library and web-based information for students enrolled in Dr. Turner's HIST 2630: Historical Methods course.
Need help with your topic?
Ensure your topic is focused to allow for thorough research and writing within the assigned page limit. Covering the entirety of the Irish American experience is unrealistic. Consider framing your topic as a research question for clarity and specificity.
- Brainstorm. Write down questions and topics that come to mind with judgement
- Review Course Materials and Tertiary Sources. Is there a topic or concept that stands out to you?
- #trending. Is there a current event, problem, or debate worth digging into its historical background?
- What are your own personal interests, hobbies, or experiences? Translate this to a topic
- Talk to your Instructor or Librarian!
- Always be sure your topic meets your professor's Requirements.
- Ask yourself when.
Are you interested in a particular era or event? - Ask yourself where.
Can you limit your inquiry geographically or by a specific location (e.g. workplace)? - Ask yourself who.
Which demographic, group, or organization is impacted? Who is overlooked? - What aspect of your topic are you interested in? The causes? The effects or implications? The solutions?
Ensure that the topic is manageable and that material is available. Can you find enough material (primary and secondary sources) to support your argument?
Still need a bit more help?
Gather Background Info with Reference Resources
Tertiary sources are reference materials. They summarize information from other sources. Because they don't provide original analysis or interpretation, you typically wouldn't use them as sources for your assignments. However, they are useful for getting a broad overview of a topic and for identifying primary and secondary sources
Tertiary sources can include:
- Almanacs, Yearbooks, and Factbooks
- Bibliographies
- Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
- Indexes and Abstracts
- Manuals
- Textbooks
Reference Databases
- History Reference Source This link opens in a new windowThe database features reference books, encyclopedias, non-fiction books, and history periodicals.
- Credo Reference (Select Titles) This link opens in a new windowIncludes over 650 titles with particular emphasis on subject encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and reference handbooks.
Try Specialized
Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
Subject-specific encyclopedias and dictionaries are more specialized than general ones. Coverage is limited to a specific subject or field of study and contain more developed entries written by scholars and experts within the field.
Encyclopedia of Gender in Media by
The media strongly influences our everyday notions of gender roles and our concepts of gender identity. The Encyclopedia of Gender in Media critically examines the role of the media in enabling, facilitating, or challenging the social construction of gender in our society. The work addresses a variety of entertainment and news content in print and electronic media and explores the social construction of masculinity as well as femininity. In addition to representations of gender within the media, we also analyze gender issues related to media ownership and the media workforce. Despite an abundance of textbooks, anthologies, and university press monographs on the topic of gender in media, until now no comprehensive reference work has tackled this topic of perennial interest in student research and papers. Features and benefits: 150 signed entries (each with Cross References and Further Readings) are organized in A-to-Z fashion to give students easy access to the full range of topics within gender in media. A thematic Reader′s Guide in the front matter groups related entries by broad topical or thematic areas to make it easy for users to find related entries at a glance, with themes including "Discrimination & Media Effects," "Media Modes," "New Media," "Media Portrayals & Representations," "Biographies," and more. In the electronic version, the Reader′s Guide combines with a detailed Index and the Cross References to provide users with robust search-and browse capacities. A Chronology in the back matter helps students put individual events into broader historical context. A Glossary provides students with concise definitions to key terms in the field. A Resource Guide to classic books, journals, and web sites (along with the Further Readings accompanying each entry) helps guide students to further resources for their research journeys. An Appendix provides users with a number of reports related to gender in media.
ISBN: 9781412990806Publication Date: 2012-08-29
War and American Popular Culture by
Spanning more than 400 years of America's past, this book brings together, for the first time, entries on the ways Americans have mythologized both the many wars the nation has fought and the men and women connected with those conflicts. Focusing on significant representations in popular culture, it provides information on fiction, drama, poems, songs, film and television, art, memorials, photographs, documentaries, and cartoons. From the colonial wars before 1775 to our 1997 peacekeeper role in Bosnia, the work briefly explores the historical background of each war period, enabling the reader to place the almost 500 entries into their proper context. The book includes particularly large sections dealing with the popular culture of the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Indian Wars West of the Mississippi, World War II, and Vietnam. It has been designed to be a useful reference tool for anyone interested in America's many wars, to provide answers, to teach, to inspire, and most of all, to be enjoyed.
ISBN: 9780313299087Publication Date: 1999-01-30
The Cold War by
This sweeping reference work covers every aspect of the Cold War, from its ignition in the ashes of World War II, through the Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War superpower face-off between the Soviet Union and the United States dominated international affairs in the second half of the 20th century and still reverberates around the world today. This comprehensive and insightful multivolume set provides authoritative entries on all aspects of this world-changing event, including wars, new military technologies, diplomatic initiatives, espionage activities, important individuals and organizations, economic developments, societal and cultural events, and more. This expansive coverage provides readers with the necessary context to understand the many facets of this complex conflict. The work begins with a preface and introduction and then offers illuminating introductory essays on the origins and course of the Cold War, which are followed by some 1,500 entries on key individuals, wars, battles, weapons systems, diplomacy, politics, economics, and art and culture. Each entry has cross-references and a list of books for further reading. The text includes more than 100 key primary source documents, a detailed chronology, a glossary, and a selective bibliography. Numerous illustrations and maps are inset throughout to provide additional context to the material.
ISBN: 9781440860751Publication Date: 2020-10-27
African American Culture by
Covering everything from sports to art, religion, music, and entrepreneurship, this book documents the vast array of African American cultural expressions and discusses their impact on the culture of the United States. According to the latest census data, less than 13 percent of the U.S. population identifies as African American; African Americans are still very much a minority group. Yet African American cultural expression and strong influences from African American culture are common across mainstream American culture--in music, the arts, and entertainment; in education and religion; in sports; and in politics and business. African American Culture: An Encyclopedia of People, Traditions, and Customs covers virtually every aspect of African American cultural expression, addressing subject matter that ranges from how African culture was preserved during slavery hundreds of years ago to the richness and complexity of African American culture in the post-Obama era. The most comprehensive reference work on African American culture to date, the multivolume set covers such topics as black contributions to literature and the arts, music and entertainment, religion, and professional sports. It also provides coverage of less-commonly addressed subjects, such as African American fashion practices and beauty culture, the development of jazz music across different eras, and African American business.
ISBN: 9781440862434Publication Date: 2020-07-23
