1. History dissertations–library research Presented by Richard Pears May 2011

2. ∂ Learning outcomes After this session you will be able to identify the range of secondary and published sources available select the most appropriate sources for your research subject search efficiently using catalogues and bibliographical databases

3. ∂ What information do you need? Define research area: People, period, place Focus: i.e. politics, society, religion, economics, etc Information: facts, theories, historiography, data, images, artefacts, etc.

4. ∂ Break down the subject into searchable areas Sample topic: War and national identity in late medieval Scotland themestime periodplace

5. ∂ Some sources of information BooksInternet pages JournalsStatistics DatabasesNewspapers Theses Government publications Manuscripts Contacts: staff, organisations Images / filmFollow up references in other publications

6. ∂ Start here! http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/history/ http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/history/

7. ∂ Books - catalogues Use the Library Catalogue: http://library.dur.ac.uk / http://library.dur.ac.uk / All material held in Durham University Libraries Author, title, keyword, subject searching Reserve, recall, renew items in Library Includes theses, e-books Obtain items from store Export citations for your bibliography

8. 8 E-books Early English Books Online (EEBO) Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) ACLS Humanities e-books Patrologia Latina Internet, e.g. Google Books - http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

9. ∂ Locating other sources Use the references and bibliographies cited in other books Look for other works by cited authors Look for published collections, e.g. Surtees Society, Camden Miscellany, Calendar of State Papers Includes online resources: State Papers Online, Medieval Sources Online, ACLS Humanities e-booksresources

10. ∂ Using bibliographic databases Search engines indexing thousands of journals, theses, working papers Often include book reviews Sometimes link to full text Download references to relevant sources, then search for these in the Library catalogue See list at http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/resources/online/subjects/?s=History http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/resources/online/subjects/?s=History

11. ∂ Finding journal articles – JSTOR. NB: not last 5 years!

12. ∂ L Historical Abstracts for journal articles and reviews

13. ∂ Find books beyond Durham: COPACCOPAC

14. ∂ Document delivery service to obtain sources not in Durham

15. ∂ SCONUL ACCESS to use libraries at other universities http://www.access.sconul.ac.uk/

16. ∂ Recommended websites

17. ∂ Other sources for e-books: Google BooksGoogle Books

18. ∂ Other sources for academic sources: Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

19. ∂ Getting help Library web pages: http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/history/ http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/history/ Contact:richard.pears@durham.ac.ukrichard.pears@durham.ac.uk