1. American Environmental History
Library Research Workshop
Fall 2017

2. Library Research Components
Tertiary Literature - fact finding, orientation, major trends
Secondary Sources - Monographs: historical analysis published in books - Journal literature: historical analysis published in peer-reviewed journals
Primary Sources - where to find them, how to find/recognize them
Citing Your Sources in Style

3. Start Here …

5. Exploring Topic Ideas with the Help of Encyclopedias, Handbooks & Companions

6. From Topic Exploration to Preliminary Bibliography

7. Follow Cited References to the Source
Keep authors and editors in the order in which they are listed in the source. DO NOT alphabetize.

8. Follow Cited References to the Source

9. Follow Cited References to the Source

10. Follow Cited References to the Source Extra credit

11. Secondary Sources: Books & Media
Books & More: Start with subject search for “Indians of North America” and “water rights”, then compare to new subject search inspired by subject headings in previously reviewed books: “water rights” and West. Explain the difference. Catalog searches are not full text searches and although we skipped the phrase “Indians of North America” many of the books we find with the second approach are likely to talk about Native American water rights and the Winters doctrine.
Note that physical books on the same topic are shelved together. Books about Native Americans are shelved in the area of E77-, books about water rights in the U.S. are shelved in the area of KF5569-KF5590. A physical book can only be located in one place. Subjects unite additional topics.

12. Secondary Sources: WorldCat

13. Find the Root of the Call Number for the:
Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant
TK1345.H37

14. Secondary Sources
Articles & more searches the Library’s digital holdings and results are necessarily messy. Nevertheless, this search engine can be a boon to interdisciplinary topics as long as you know its limitations and take advantage of two special features.

15. Compare Articles & more to America: History & Life

16. Selecting Primary Sources for a Topic
Native American water rights after Winters v. United States
Laws
Government documents
Newspaper coverage
Hearings
Reports
Interviews
Photos
Data
Etc.

17. Identifying and locating primary sources
Know what you are looking for!

18. Identifying and locating primary sources
Pay attention to cited references!

19. Government documents

20. Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Books:

21. Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Book Chapters:
Author’s name should not be capitalized. Editors’ names should not be inverted. DOI should appear as functional URL (alternativels use JSTOR URL or JSTOR).

22. Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Journal Articles:

23. Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Websites:

24. RECAP