Using the Internet in Writing a  History Research Paper

Notes for a class at South Central High School, Greenwich, Ohio

December 18, 2001

 

 

 

 

1.         Choose your  topic, find your theme:  You can find your topic many ways, including by browsing the net.  Think about things that interest you, about questions that have historical dimensions.  But a general topic needs to be refined.

        Shape your topic by asking specific questions.

 

2.         Find some introductory sources.  Start with your textbook.  Then use an encyclopedia,  any general reference work, or check for a reference source on the web.

·      For a general list of online reference tools, you can go to

                      www.oberlin.edu/library

and then click on "Reference Sources"

·      You might also try an online encyclopedia like Encarta at http://encarta.msn.com

 

·      You might look for a biographical dictionary like Biography.com at www.biography.com

 

 

          Still having trouble? 

Try a search engine, like "Ask Jeeves" at www.ask.com

 

or Google at www.google.com

 

   Be careful in framing your search question, or you may be overwhelmed with results.

 

3.         As you begin your work and use the internet be careful to evaluate the quality of the sources you are finding.  Think about how you can differentiate:

·      Reputable /nonreputable

·      Authoritative/nonauthoritative

 

4.         Two important elements of a college-level research paper:

a.     framing your inquiry in terms of historiography

b.    using primary sources

 

For a longer discussion of these elements, and the next step in writing a research paper, identifying where sources and historians disagree, see Diana Hacker, Research and Documentation Online <http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/hacker/resdoc/history/

overview.htm> (17 December 2001).

 

The internet is, at this time, probably better in helping you find primary sources than in identifying the historiography.   Your own critical thinking is necessary to identify areas of disagreement.

 

5.              Types of primary sources  on the internet:

 

·      Facismile copy/transcription

·      Text/nontext

·      Mixed sites that include interpretive and teaching material, as well as primary sources

·      Film, video and audio

Note:  because of the issue of copyright, most primary materials on the web are more than 70 years old.

 

6.              Where to Look for Internet Sources:

·      Back to the big search engines

 

·      Compilations of relevant history web sites

See, for example,

the website of the Oberlin College History Department: www.oberlin.edu/links/links.html

the website of online resources in history compiled by the Oberlin College Library:

http://www.oberlin.edu/library/res_sub/soc-history.html

the University of Kansas American history website:

http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/USA/index.html

 

 

·      Well known mega websites:

Library of Congress American Memory

http://memory.loc.gov/

 

Making of America

http://moa.umdl.umich.edu/

http://moa.cit.cornell.edu/moa/index.html

 

 

Bartleby

http://www.bartleby.com/

 

Women and Social Movements

http://womhist.binghamton.edu/

 

7.              Playing with Uncle Tom’s Cabin

First, a more basic approach

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/STOWE/stowe.html

 

Now: lots of stuff:

http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/

 

 

 

8.              Remember: quote and cite appropriately.  DO NOT PLAGARIZE

 

Example of an Internet Citation:

1. Brendan P. Kehoe, Zen and the Art of the Internet, January 1992, <http://www.cs.indiana.edu/docproject/zen/zen-1.0_toc.html> (4 June 1999)