[FAS] English 170A: High and Low - Research Tips for Paper 2

Start Simple

A basic search in HOLLIS or Google Books can be a great way to get started. Here are some suggestions for how to convert a topic into a search:

In Google Books [full-text search]: kael sarris auteur  -- bebop swing 1940s -- "alan freed" rock -- Benjamin Adorno debates

In HOLLIS [index search]: kael sarris auteur  -- bebop OR "bop (music)" -- "alan freed" OR "freed, alan" -- "adorno benjamin debate" OR "benjamin adorno debate"

Note: for any book you find in Google Books, you can just copy and paste the title into HOLLIS to get a copy via the library. If you hit any snags, feel free to email me.

Background and Context

Start with books and book chapters: these are often the best kind of source for a solid overview of a topic.

"Greenberg, Clement" AND (biography OR correspondence OR interviews OR anecdotes) searches HOLLIS. Modify the search with the lastname, firstname of the person you're interested in---make sure to double-check your spelling!

(america* OR "united states") AND history AND censorship AND 20th searches HOLLIS for a general history of censorship. Replace "censorship" with your topic plus whatever other modifications you'd like. (If you don't get enough results, try removing "20th.")

Find Context for Literary Research lists online collections and sources useful for literary topics in particular.

"On the Ground" Accounts in Newspapers and Magazines - by searching

Start with: Readers' Guide Retrospective [index search]: American and Canadian general-interest magazines, covered 1890-1982. More popular material and more focused on North America than Periodicals Index Online.

Also try:

• Periodicals Index Online [index search]: thousands of magazines and journals, covered through the 1980s. More academic material included and more international scope than Readers' Guide Retrospective.
• Historical Newspapers Search (ProQuest) [full-text search]: a variety of American newspapers, variably covered from the 18th century to the present. For details, click on "databases" and look at the options in the list that have been checked. Click on "advanced search" to pre-set a date filter.
• Opinion Archives [full-text search]: a poorly designed search across a nicely curated set of highbrow magazines. The search function is very slow and returns some false positives, but it's still worth trying.

"On the Ground" Accounts in Newspapers and Magazines - by browsing

There's nothing like browsing through general-interest magazines from a particular time period to get a real feel for the time as well as to turn up articles and ideas that you would never have thought to search for. There are two places in the library where you can browse through historical magazines:

• Level D West in the Widener stacks (under P): wave your arms to turn on the lights and don't be shy about turning on multiple lights. Be prepared to sit on the floor or stand while you browse. Shelved alphabetically by magazine title.
• Level A in Lamont (under Periodicals). Much smaller collection, but more conveniently located. Shelved alphabetically by magazine title.
• To browse a specific magazine, use the Journal Search Page to find the magazine in HOLLIS. You may need to use date and publisher city information to determine the correct record, and you may need to select "Check for ONLINE access and other options" to see all of the print and/or online access options.

"On the Ground" Accounts in Primary Source Collections

("second wave" AND feminis*) AND sources finds anthologies of primary sources in HOLLIS. Modify to suit your topic. Experiment with expressing your topic in more general or narrower terms---there's a bit of an art to finding the level of generality that gets the best results.

The Digital Public Library of America, which points to digitized and freely available primary-source collections in libraries, museums, and other institutions around the country. This is a bit of a fishing expedition but really fun to try.

Primary source collections---licensed databases that gather primary-source material around a specific topic or era:

• Sixties
• American Song (pre-1960s) or the Database of Recorded American Music (post-1975)
• Rock and roll, counter culture, peace and protest
• See all databases tagged as "archival materials"

After-effects

It can be tricky to identify a historical shift. Some techniques you might use:

• Consider how the language used to describe a phenomenon might change over time--try out different synonyms for the same idea, and look for general histories that trace the evolution of that idea over time.
• Look for recent sources that discuss the controversy you're researching: do they mention any kind of legacy or after-effect? If yes, do you agree? Try adding terms like legacy OR influence OR effect to your search. Or, genealogy OR revisited OR beyond---experiment to see what gets you the best results.
• Find out who cites one of the sources you're using. Pick a source with a fairly unique title and search for that title as an exact phrase in a full-text search engine. For example:
  • "The Feminine Mystique" in GoogleBooks
  • "The Feminine Mystique" in Google Scholar (find the one with Friedan as author and click "cited by")
  • "The Feminine Mystique" in Project Muse
  • "The Feminine Mystique" in JSTOR