The Information Literate Historian:

A Research Primer for Students

Jenny Presnell

(insert your full title and affiliation

Humanities/Social Sciences Librarian

History, American Studies,

Women'’s Studies, Militiary Studies

Bibliographern'

Miami University (Ohio))

Purpose

Technology has ushered in a new era of research that has significantly changed the study and practice of history. History students are finding it necessary to move beyond the traditional research paper and prove themselves “information literate.” Defined as an ability to recognize when information is needed as well as to locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information, information literacy is a must for today’s students. The Information Literate Historian is the only book available designed specifically to teach students of the information age how to most effectively select and use sources--secondary, primary, and electronic—to investigate and present their research. In these increasingly electronic times, when history students need to be more sophisticated than ever about their research methods, this book will be an essential guide.

Overview

As a reference librarian serving both undergraduate and graduate students in an increasingly electronic environment, I have seen first-hand the difficulties they face as they grapple with the breadth and variety of available historical information. In the past, a solid knowledge of basic bibliographic tools was sufficient because the research resources were primarily available in print, on microform, or at a library. Today, the information explosion that has resulted from the power of and access to the Internet has complicated traditional methods of research by heightening students’ expectations and raising new questions about retrieving, applying, and presenting information.

The Information Literate Historian is the only guide available that will teach students how to understand, find, select, and utilize both traditional and less-traditional sources and methods in their research and writing. At a time when students as well as younger faculty are beginning to ask questions about more creative historical research and its applications, the available textbooks are no longer adequate. Mainly written by history faculty, these volumes, while knowledgeable about traditional methods of scholarship, have not yet incorporated newer, electronic methods of accessing and presenting source materials. ) Additionally, these books spend moretime discussing how to take notes and construct a paper than how to conduct research.As a librarian who regularly teaches a class on research skills and methods for history students at my university, it is clear to me that a new book is necessary in this area. I am perfectly situated to write such a book and to offer new insights into the most effective search strategies as well as provide concrete solutions and guidelines for today’s most pressing research-related questions and concerns.

Audience

Undergraduate students undertaking a research paper, or senior thesis, primarily in the discipline of history are the primary audience for this book. However, it will also be used by graduate students who do not have a strong undergraduate history research background as well as high school students engaged in history research, especially at the advanced placement level. Additionally, students in other disciplines, both undergraduate and graduate, who are conducting a research project or writing a thesis with a significant historical bent would also find this guide very useful.

The Information Literate Historian is the kind of book that history students will want to have as part of their personal reference library. It will also, however, take its place as a comprehensive textbook for classes on history research.

Many universities offer classes designed to teach and bolster history research skills. Some examples follow:

It is quite common for universities to require history students to complete a senior thesis or major research paper for graduation. When this is the case, classes are offered to guide students in their research and writing. For example, at Miami University, these classes, which are called capstones, are conducted like seminars and have an average enrollment of fifteen students. Approximately twelve of these classes are offered per year. At Miami, these capestone classes are topical. Students study a topic in history, violence in 20th centuyrcentury americaAmerica, for instance, and then produce an original, lengthy research paper. These papers, and sometimes web projects are based on primary research and expect the students to be able to draw on secondary source interpretations. (Jenny, I’m unclear about why these classes have specific topics-violence in u.s. etc. if they are designed to teach students research skills. Either explain that or just leave out the course titles. Also be sure my description of these capstone classes is accurate.)

  • Many universities also offer credit courses which teach research skills to undergraduate history majors. The course designed for this purpose at Miami University (HST281: Historical Research: Libraries and Beyond), which I often teach, is just one example. The average enrollment is twenty-four students. This kind of class is quite common in history departments throughout the U.S. (jenny, I said you often teach this course, above, is that true?--yes)
  • High Schools, especially those with large advanced placement enrollments, also offer classes in which this book can be used. For example, at the Cincinnati Country Day School (a private, college prep school), regularly has a librarian lecture in their advanced placement history class. This book is one that could easily be assigned in such a situation or be mentioned as recommended reading.

*Many history classes which are not primarily devoted to teaching research skills still list a research book or two as assigned or recommended reading on the course syllabus. Professors often don’t have the time to teach these skills and methods within the class but many students arrive in these classrooms in great need of guidance in this area. Many faculytfaculty assume students have the research skills this text teaches and feel unable to take the time out of their class schedules to teach these skills. and are often quite suprised The Information Literate Historian, due to its unique and much-needed perspective, has the potential to find its way onto a large number of history syllabi as seminal research skills book. (jenny I added this last one since it seems to me a significant market. Would you agree yes? In fact I think this could be a large market and perhaps the obvious one! -- it would allow faculyt )

Market and Competition

The books that can be cited as competition for The InformationLiterate Historian almost universally lack concrete methodologies for searching for, selecting, and evaluating primary sources as well as discussions of how and when to use the Internet. Most have been written by history faculty who are not up-to-date on the newer techniques of research in the electronic information age. None discuss the Web page as a new way of delivering historical research.

Some examples follow:

  • Student’s Guide to History. Eighth edition. Jules R. Benjamin. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s 2001. (Web component of this book can be found at: This guide is a longstanding text for history students aimed at the construction of a research paper from research and note taking through paper construction.. Benjamin peripherally touches on many topics that The Information Literate Historian would examine in greater detail. He spends several pages exploring the uses of a catalog and journal articles, whereas my proposed volume would expand these into longer chapters with more specific search strategies. His discussion of the Internet is basic, and again, I would elaborate and suggest more in-depth search strategies. Additionally, his dicussion of primary sources is limited to their use in a paper rather than locating them. My book will detail in length where and how students might find useful primary source material.

The book does have a nice bibliography of basic reference resources but it does not explain the various types of reference resources (encyclopedias vs. guidebooks vs. bibliographies) and how to differentiate between them. It also doesn’t suggest how a student might find other similar sources that are not included in his bibliography. Lastly, and importantly, very little attention is paid to websites. Although Benjamin’s book does include a discussion on how to write a history research paper, it is my experience that most history professors have their own style in terms of paper construction and therefore, the value of this section is limited and will not be included in The Information Literate Historian.

  • Going To the Sources: A Guide to Historical Research and Writing. Third edition. Anthony Brundage. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson, 2002. Brundage, History Professor at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, has only recently updated this text, first published in 1989. It explores the use of primary sources in historical research from (jenny something missing here?) It is an excellent volume for assisting students in conceptualizing primary sources and how they behave. However, his methods for searching for both primary and secondary sources are quite limited as well as outdated in this time of information overload and internet technologies. Students must learn to use technology smartly and his book does not help them do this. Additionally, he provides few bibliographies of standard resources for students to begin their research and the ones he does provide are embedded in the text and difficult for students to reference without re-reading entire chapters. . His discussion of the Internet is is quite peripheral and includes a very short list of sites which seem to be selected at random. He also does not discuss how to search the Internet for information. The intent of this volume is to integrate primary sources into the traditional written research paper and in that it succeeds, however, today’s history students need much more than that in order to write the most effective and successful papers.
  • History: Illustrated Search Strategies and Sources. Elizabeth Frick. Second edition. Library Research Guide Series No. 13. Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, 1995. Frick, then professor at Dalhousie University and leader in the library field in bibliographic instruction, couples her unique style of teaching critical thinking with research technique. Her text concentrates entirely on looking for secondary sources, and using online catalogs and indexes. Although she does explore topic selection, reference resources, and government documents, she does not explore primary sources in any way, nor does she provide evaluative skills for selecting secondary sources.

A question about the frick book – it is competiton in that it is doing something similar to what I intend, but it is so out of date that no one would even use it anymore – so is it competition?

Electronic Companions

As is the case with many reference books, The Information LiterateHistorian would be an obvious candidate for a companion website or CDROM. The website could suggest activites for students, include websites and update bibliographies. Perhaps access to some fee based databases can be arranged with an access fee to the textbook.

Author Biography

Jenny PresnellJenny Presnell is an Information Services Librarian and History, American Studies, and Women’s Studies Bibliographer at Miami University in Ohio. Aside from her Master’s in Library Science (1984, Indiana University), she also has a MA in History (1991, Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio). She teaches a course to undergraduate History majors using the ideas contained in this proposal. She has contributed to many encyclopedias, reviewed books for Library Journal, written articles for the American National Biography (Oxford University Press, 1999), and is currently one of the senior assistant editors for the History volume to be included in the forthcoming set of Best Books For Academic Libraries Vol 4 (Best Books Inc.

Presentation and Format

The volume will be about 250 pages (jenny do you mean 250 manuscript pages or 250 final book pages?) and will be completed in January 2004. Each chapter will contain an introduction, search strategy, and a list of resources as well as guidelines on how to use those resources. The chapters will attempt to strike a balance between text and graphics, providing examples that are universal enough to speak to a wide range of students with a variety of different resources. Each chapter will have an online counterpart (jenny this isn’t clear. What do you mean that each chapter will have a website? It’s best not to include the website component content since that remains to be seen). (.Certain chapters will have extensive bibliographies and a few will include maps and images.

Chapter Outline

Introduction

The Nature of Historical Discourse, or How Historians Communicate

In general students do not understand how scholars communicate. This introduction provides a short overview of how materials get into print, including a very brief and simple look at the editorial process. Also included is a discussion of how historians can take the same evidence and come to different conclusions and how history is more interpretive than students often think.

Part I

Basic Types of Resources

Chapter OneTwo (wldn’t this be chapter one since previous chapter is intro?) I thought so, but I thought that you put chapter two on it.--

Historians and Sources

This chapter will discuss the differences between primary and secondary sources and how historians build their research, using primary sources to look for trends. A more lengthy definition of primary sources will be undertaken in Chapter Seven.

Part II

Laying the Foundations: Secondary Sources

Chapter Twohree

Reference Sources

Every student should have a basic familiarity with both print and online resources for historical research. Using guides, encyclopedias, association websites, biographical information, book reviews, maps, statistics, historical surveys, chronologies, etc., each type of source will be described and major examples provided.

Chapter ThreeFour

Finding Books and Using Catalogs

While most libraries today are online, using the electronic catalog effectively can be as complicated as manipulating the unwieldy card catalogs of the past. In this chapter, students will be taught basic search strategies. Included will be a discussion of the differences between keyword and subject searching and how to make each most effective. Also discussed will be the differences between books and journals in terms of currency and breadth of topic and what this means for the searcher.

Chapter Fourive

Finding Journal Articles and Using Indexes

This chapter will explore what a periodical index is, how to locate one that is appropriate for your subject, and how to perform an effective search. Search strategies that will allow students to think through a topic will be included as well as a bibliography of the major indexes and their available formats (print and electronic). Additionally, this chapter will help students understand the difference between journals and magazines (the referee process will be discussed) and how they differ from writing that appears on the Internet.

Chapter FiveSix
Evaluation of Materials

Information Literate historians must be able to select and integrate primary and secondary materials effectively. Evaluation includes selecting the best sources to reflect the issues that students wish to highlight while proving their thesis. It also includes knowing the source of the information, the credibility of the author, and the accuracy of the text. A list of criteria will be presented and a discussion of bias, propaganda, and the purposes and intentions of both will be included.

Part III

Finding and Using the Evidence: Primary Sources

Chapter Sixeven

The Thrill of Discovery: Primary Sources

Primary sources often present many challenges to the modern student. Students must learn to think in terms that are often unthinkable in their twenty-first century minds. Putting themselves in the place of an eighteenth century politician or a nineteenth century suffragist is challenging, to say the least, but students must learn to do this as they explore cultures, ideas, and eras so different from their own. This chapter will help them do just that. It begins with a thorough discussion of what primary sources are, how they can be identified, and where they can be found. Infused throughout the sections listed below will be specific strategies for helping students locate, use, and identify primary materials as well as advice for helping them transport themselves into the lives, events, and time periods that they are studying.

*Sources Published for Mass Consumption (Books, Journals, Magazine Articles)

*Unpublished Sources and Manuscripts

*Business and Corporate Records

*Oral Testimony

*Government and Other Official Bodies Documents

*Public Records and Genealogical Resources

*Media/Audiovisual