HI 3311: American Labor History

D. Gray

Off campus? Off campus access to resources with proxy.

Background Information

While gathering general information and facts...

Make a list of keywords and add to this list as you find more
Follow up on relevant authors, researchers, experts
Gather statistical information to build scope and impact of problem
Consider all perspectives: historic, economic, social, political, etc.

Roosevelt's Role in the 1902 Coal Strike

The free web: search engines and other free web sites such as Wikipedia
Grolier Encyclopedia and Encyclopedia Americana.

Information Choices: What Sources To Use

Use different types of information to get broad coverage of your topic. Historians use primary materials to build their research. See the Primary Sources guide for information on primary literature and how to find it.

Review the 5 items below. What type of sources are the following? Newspapers, popular magazines, scholarly journal, primary material? ______________________________________________

Who's the intended audience for each?
______________________________________________

John Mitchell And The Anthracite Mine Workers: Leadership Conservatism And Rank-And-File Militancy. in Labor History
Anthracite Coal Strike in its Social Aspects Economic Journal
Anthracite Strike of 1902: A Record of Confusion in Mississippi Valley Historical Review
Organized labor and American politics, 1894-1994.
Coal Mining in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era

Books

Evaluate...

Evaluating Web Resources Checklist (PDF)

According to a study at Stanford, nearly half of all web site evaluators (46.1%) used visual cues, to assess a site's credibility. Move beyond what a site looks like...

Just a Myth | Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

Authority
Scope
Currency
Accuracy

Search the Library Catalog for items @ WPI or WorldCat to search beyond our library.

Examples of useful books:

Coal: a Human History. General Collection TN805 A5 F857 2003
Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. Special Collection E757 R79
Labor Conflict in the United States : An Encyclopedia. General Collection HD5324 L32 1990

Find Articles about Your Topic

All databases listed are WPI subscriptions. But check out Google Scholar, a web search of scholarly sources.

America, History & Life and Historical Abstracts: References to articles on historic topics.
Gale Powersearch: Articles on all topics, click refereed/peer reviewed checkbox to limit only to scholarly articles. Contains articles back to the 1980s but good coverage of historical topics.
JSTOR: Complete full text of important scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields. Coverage: Varies by publication but many back to late 1800s.
Project Muse: Search full text of major academic history journals.
New York Times Historical: Search full text 1851-2002.
LEXIS®-NEXIS® Academic: Current full text news, legal, medical, and business information. News coverage ranges from regional coverage (Worcester T & G) to national news.

Filter and Follow Up...

Scan results: use subject headings/descriptors, keywords, phrases found to expand search
Scrutinize article titles, number of pages, and journal title
Browse promising abstract and conclusion sections of long studies
Bibliographies can clue you in on the value of the article as well
Find an interesting author? Search for more articles or for his/her web site
Notice an agency, association or expert mentioned in an article? Follow up!

Search one of the above databases for an article on your topic. Jot down the reference here, in MLA style.
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________

Example of a work from a library subscription service:: Roberts, Peter. "Anthracite Coal Strike in its Social; Aspects." Economic Journal 13.49 (1903): 20-19.; JSTOR. Gordon Library Worcester; Polytechnic Institute, MA. 12 Sept. 2005; <http://links.jstor.org>.

What journal or magazine is this article from? Is it available in full text? Or just an abstract? If only an abstract is found, find the full text, using the library's Journals, Magazines, & Newspapers list.

Only Finding a Citation? Getting the Full Text

Is the journal online or here in the library? Search our Journals, Magazines, & Newspapers list
Visit another library: Search WorldCat to find one
Request delivery from another library: Interlibrary Loan.

Give Credit! Cite Your Sources

Is Your Topic too Broad?

Getting from Roosevelt and the 1902 Coal Strike to a working hypothesis: After browsing research tools, databases, the web, you should be able to zone in on a narrowly focused question that with your research, you attempt to take a position and answer.

1902 Coal Strike and the Pulse of the Nation: Did Americans Back Roosevelt's Actions?

Questions?

Stop by the reference desk or set up a research consultation.

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Last modified: May 13, 2008, 13:20 EDT