History 301: Historical Methods & Writing (Xiao)
The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with finding historical research resources in the library and on the internet for your research project on the history of Chinese in America or Americans in China.
Getting Started
Think about what you know on a topic that interests you and meets the requirements for this assignment. Look for terms in your notes and readings. Before committing to a topic, you should do some 'survey' research to be sure appropriate and sufficient resources are available. This is possible to do though the library catalog by searching for either a person or a topic. Doing this type of simple search will bring back plenty of material in both the primary and secondary categories.
You have a choice in your topic focus: Chinese in America or Americans in China. One looks at the experience of Chinese immigrants and primary sources will be through immigrants eyes and those concerned with them. The other topic is the experience of Americans as tourists, explorers, military or missionaries in China and primary materials will generally be written by members of these groups.
As an example, you are interested in the experience of American missionaries in China. A search in the catalog on missionar* (more about the asterick in class) and 'China' will retrieve a variety of titles, but in looking at them, you will see that not all are on the experience of American missionaries.
- Stuart, John Leighton, 1876-1962 was a missionary in China, note the subject heading for a specific person is phrased in last name, first name order.
- You also want related materials on the topic, not just those about one person since there is a great deal of background and related material, so try other keyword searches and browse likely results to find the following:
Historians rely heavily on primary documents in their research and you MUST use primary sources as your main research sources. For how to identify a primary document, click here. Following are some examples for the topic of missionaries in in China:
- Diaries, letters and reports by missionaries
- Statistics and population maps
- Newspaper editorials and reports on treatment of missionaries in China
- Look at films, broadsides and advertising media if your time period would include such (or paintings and other art for earlier)
Books
Any well researched project uses books to support your thinking and writing. Do a KEYWORD search on the topic by typing the word or phrase in the search box. Since keywords can have multiple definitions and therefore, uses, once you locate a useful title, examine the SUBJECTS for precise 'labels' to identify your topic. While looking at each item, note authors who are writing on your topic and the call number for browsing the stacks.
Books at Cal State San Marcos
Library Catalog
Search our local collection of about 250,000 books.
Other Options
Circuit (1-3 day delivery)
Search the collections of other San Diego area libraries -- about 3,000,000 books. Find and request books directly online; pick them up at our Library in 1-3 days.
WorldCat (5-10 day delivery)
Search the collections of libraries world-wide -- about 52,000,000 books. Find a book in this database, and fill-out an Interlibrary Loan delivery request. Book will be delivered to Library for pickup.
Journal Articles
History journals include some of the latest research in
the field and can be very helpful in your project but are
secondary sources, not primary documents when doing this
project. They're a good source for finding very
detailed information on your topic. To
find articles, you need to start with a research
database and
preferably one that indexes scholarly sources as they are
based on careful research and peer-review prior to
publishing. For more on scholarly sources, click
here.
Some databases do not offer
full text of the articles. Use the
button
to check our other resources for full text.
NOTE: most databases do not cover material published prior to the early 1980's, so you may need to use print resources to do some verification or earlier research.
Most Useful
Historical Abstracts
Abstracts of journal articles covering world history, from pre-history to the present. This database covers materials published since the 1970s, but addresses prehistory through modern times.America: History and Life
Abstracts of journal articles covering US and Canadian history, from pre-history to the present. This database covers materials published since the 1964-on, but covers history from prehistory through modern times.JSTOR
Full-text. Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such areas as sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies and others. This collection offers articles published since the late 1800's.Project MUSE
Full text. Scholarly article collection supplementing the holdings on many titles in JSTOR by offering more currently published materials.
Also Useful
Academic Search Premier (via EbscoHost)
Ethnic NewsWatch
Full-text. A multi-disciplinary database offering full text for nearly 1,850 scholarly journals, including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed titles. Use peer-reviewed limiter to focus on more scholarly materials.Full-text ethnic newspapers, for more contemporary events.History E-Book Project
Full-text. Approximately 760 full-text e-books in the area of history. Each title is also included in the library catalog.
Primary Sources
Academic-level history research must include primary sources whenever available. See the Online Sources section for electronically-delivered primary sources available as CSUSM-provided databases as well as free-access sources. Here are some examples of primary sources in the CSUSM collection beyond books and journal articles.
Maps, microfiche, newspapers and realia are all useful to the history researcher. CSUSM has a number of maps in print and electronic format as well as older documents and newspapers in microfilm. Ask for help if you are not familiar with access and use of these materials.
- Newspapers are primary source reports on events, CSUSM's collection starts with the mid-1800s for regional and national papers, older issues are stored as microfilm.
- Microforms (fiche and film) are located on Kellogg's 4th floor and offer besides newspapers the Evans Bibliography and government publications.
- Maps are available on the 3rd floor, by the Reference Stacks and Government Documents areas along with atlases.
- Realia (objects such as tools and clothing) are generally found in museums and historical societies. Many are now found online in digital collections, but seeing the object in person is best when possible. See the History Subject Guide to Local Museums
- Diaries, memoirs, correspondence, letters and narratives are located through the Library Catalog. Type in your topic and one of these terms to see if materials are available. This search can be extended to the Circuit and World Cat catalogs as well.
Online Sources
CSUSM Databases
Accessible Archives
Documenting the American South
A good source for 19th Century American History; includes newspapers on the Civil War and African Americans.
A collection of primary source documents on Southern U.S. history, literature and culture.Los Angeles Times (1881-1986)
Search the LA Times going back to the first issue, with image reproductions of each page.U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980
Business, legislation, debates and other activity of the from the beginning of the U.S. Congress on an extensive variety of topics
Free-Access Internet (just a sample)
American Memory (note the Chinese in California collection under the Immigration category!)
Calisphere (University of California) offers digital images of a wide variety of history in California including Chinese people in various activities and much more.
Chinese Historical Society Digital Collection of digitized artifacts offers a view of everyday and special items the Chinese brought with them to the US.
Chinese Pamphlets Collection (primarily 1947-1954)
Digital History: Asian American Voices (much of this site is secondary, but there are some good primary sources)
Digital Mission Project offers digitized copies of books published during the time of the missions to China and other events in Chinese history.
East and Southeast Asia: Annotated Directory of Internet Resources offers links based on a timeline, some are more useful than others.
East Asian Collection is mostly photographs of 20th century events in China from University of Wisconsin.
Internet History Sourcebooks offer a variety of ways to locate primary source transcripts. See either geographic collection, East Asian History Sourcebook or use the main page to access links by time period (Ancient, Medieval or Modern.)
Style Guides
Sites with examples of in-text citations and works cited pages.
As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and ideas from the sources you've found. Many historians use the Chicago Manual of Style for consistent resource citation. There are two forms in Chicago, the documentary note (use of footnotes or endnotes in the text) or the author/title. Chicago may also be referred to as Turabian.
Chicago Manual of Style Online (Click on the "Chicago-style Citation Quick Guide" for helpful hints for students and their papers.)
Chicago
Quick Summary (
,
42k)
In-text citing and works cited examples.
Diana Hacker's Guide to History: Documenting Sources
Chicago/Turabian Documentation from University of Wisconsin-Madison
KnightCite (citation generator--use with caution!)
It is highly recommended that you have your own copy of the Chicago Manual, as the library's copies are often checked out.
 |
Chicago manual of
style. 15th ed. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2003 |
