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GETTING ESSENTIAL INFORMATION FROM ONLINE SOURCES
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29
highly detailed information rather than the
broad base of generalized knowledge that you
can get from the websites listed previously.
Many times, university websites and private
collections provide abstracts or a summary of
articles on a particular topic as well as the
material itself. In addition, university websites
often include a reference number that allows
you to order the microfiche or printed version
of an article available in their collection.
Different Types of University
Search Engines
Like public libraries, many universities sub-
scribe to comprehensive search engines that
contain vast amounts of information. Several
of the most common search engines to which
universities frequently subscribe are:
■
EBSCOhost (www.EBSCO.com)—a large
database of full text articles with over
6,200 journals that are indexed and 5,000
journals in full text. Topics include the arts
and sciences, business, health, and news-
papers.
■
LexisNexis (www.LexisNexis.com)—a
search engine that offers full texts from

should provide you with a solid basis of
knowledge and sources. To obtain more spe-
cialized or in-depth materials, it often pays to
have privileges at a university or other cultural
institution. Try to make arrangements to do so
in advance so that you will have the most
diverse and unique sources available for your
work.

LESSON
31
LESSON
P
rimary sources are the most valuable sources of information for any topic or research
paper. Even though some of the primary resources you have collected may not seem espe-
cially valuable (they might be extremely dated, slightly damaged, or written from a very narrow
perspective), they are vital to your work. Primary sources, unlike secondary sources, offer you
■
an immediate perspective about an event that happened during the time period.
■
opinions that are candid and unique.
■
an opportunity for you to draw your own conclusions.
■
raw data that may not have been previously listed, collected, or compiled.
In some cases, you may also be the first person to review a primary source. For example, let’s
say that in your research, you had access to a recently found personal diary of President John F.
Kennedy that recounted the days and events before his assassination. Of course, this is highly
LESSON
Selecting the

Paintings, prints, drawings, and photo-
graphs
Although you may not typically think of
consulting such diverse sources, all of them are
excellent sources of information. Personal
diaries contain feelings of individuals and
might not be included in books. Newspaper
articles from a particular time period do not
have the benefit of hindsight and may include
key eyewitness accounts or testimonies of
events. Maps provide a physical portrait of a
specific place at a particular point in history, as
well as information about how people in the
past perceived the physical world. Official doc-
uments serve as legal statements of historical
events, people, and places. Any visual sources
—paintings, prints, drawings, and photo-
graphs—also capture a situation at a precise
moment and record it for posterity.
Becoming a Source Detective
Primary sources may be harder to locate than
other sources, but they are well worth it. The
beauty of working with primary sources—
once you’ve found them—is that you, as the
researcher, have to interpret them. You are not
reading a famous historian’s opinion of a situa-
tion; you are analyzing raw writing, visuals, and
data and coming to your own conclusions.
Sometimes, you will really feel like a detective
poring over information as you piece together

2.
the index
The table of contents will immediately
tell you whether there is a chapter about your
topic, so you won’t have to read the entire
book in order to find the information you
need. If there is no table of contents, turn to
the back of the book and check the index for
an alphabetical list of topics. If your topic is
still not listed in the index, chances are that,
although the title or cover may be catchy, or
the book claims to talk about your topic, the
author cannot really provide you with key
information. If this is the case, don’t worry.
Two other strategic places to check for infor-
mation are:
3.
the bibliography
4.
footnotes or citations
Many times, even if an author does not
directly deal with your topic, it is a good idea
to turn to the back of the book and look at the
bibliography. What other books and titles did
this particular author consult? Are there any
that might be useful to you even though the
author doesn’t deal with them directly? In
addition, footnotes provide excellent clues.
Check the footnotes at the bottom of the pages
or at the end of a book. An author who uses a