1. Historical Research Top 10 List

2. Number 10 Not everything is on Google… yet

3. Number 9 You can use many of the library databases, electronic journals, collections of primary sources from home.

4. Number 8 Despite all the stuff online you won't be able to escape actually coming into the library.

5. Number 7 Despite the size of this library, we won't have everything you need so you’ll have to get stuff from other libraries.

6. Number 6 Secondary sources are easier to identify and locate than primary sources.

7. Secondary Sources Accounts written after the fact by scholars. Interpretations of history based on an analysis of primary sources. Formats: Books Journal articles Dissertations

8. Number 5 The existence, type and availability of primary sources differs for different periods of times and subjects.

9. Historians & Primary Sources Primary sources are the evidence used by historians in their analysis/interpretation of the past, in their creation of secondary sources. Secondary sources carefully cite the evidence in footnotes. Primary sources help us make personal connections with the past.

13. Number 4 One of the quickest ways to identify primary sources is to mine the footnotes and bibliography of a secondary source.

14. Number 3 There are hundreds of databases – choose the ones most likely to cover your topic and the type of material you need A great starting point to find relevant databases for historical research is under Resources by Subject - History

15. Number 2 Learn how to communicate with a library database.

16. Database searching generalities Literal If you type in a phrase it will search for the phrase Boolean operators/connectors AND - narrows OR - broadens Truncation/wildcard Allows you to easily search for variant word endings * in the UW Libraries Catalog, America History & Life and many other databases

17. Boolean: AND cartography AND exploration cartography exploration

18. Boolean: OR maps OR cartography cartography maps

19. Boolean: combining (cartography or maps) AND exploration cartography maps exploration

20. Finally… Number 1 Help is available... Email me at mudrock@u.washington.edu IM me at t_mudrock (yahoo IM) 24/7 reference help through Q&A Live