Library Research Guide for US Ethnic History of Medicine

A. 3-5 tips for best research practices/research sites

1. Use tertiary sources like subject encyclopedias, companions and bibliographies. the more you understand the general background on your topic the easier your searching should be. Gather specific keywords, proper names, etc. for later use in searching.

• "Background & Context" explained in general
• Background & Context specific to this course

 

2.   After you look for primary sources in this guide, check out our more general pages for finding primary sources.

• Outline of Primary Sources for History
• Online Primary Source Collections in the History of Science 
• Finding Primary Sources online in the Library Research Guide for History

 

3. You can find tons of primary and secondary sources in the general digital libraries like HathiTrust and Internet Archive.

• Finding Digital Libraries on the Open Web

 

4. Use Zotero or another citation management tool. It will help you coordinate your books, articles etc and make bibliographies for you. It's life-changing.

• Zotero Basics classes for Spring 2022 are Feb 8-18, or connect with us for one-on-one help

 

5. Use librarians and library services

• a librarian or other subject specialist to get help with finding and using resources
• research guides for recommended resources and connections to expertise

 

B. one thing all students should be doing for best results

Be conversant with search techniques like Boolean operators, truncation etc., and understand how to use HOLLIS Advanced Search.

• Booleans in HOLLIS
• HOLLIS Advanced Search
• HOLLIS guide
  • Use Subject terms in HOLLIS and elsewhere (like HathiTrust and subscription databases).
    • This course guide gives some good subject terms for searching primary sources (under HOLLIS Subject Terms on each page), but subject terms are tools you can use in many databases for any type of source. 
• An MIT guide full of database search tips like booleans, truncation, subject term vs keywords and more!

 

C. two little used research tricks that can make every researcher's life easier

• Use plugins to get your straight to the material instead of having to use HOLLIS every time. This is explained in "How to Use Your HarvardKey to get Books and Articles for Free."
• Hone your general search skills for tracking down "known items." Check out this article by the blogger Pegasus Librarian: "Tracking down known (or known-ish) documents: some strategies."

 

D. One example of what not to do

Give up on library resources and rely solely on Google. Use field and subject-specific databases so you can get to relevant literature (often available only through library subscriptions)

• Very General Example: Looking for "grayhound" in Google and Google Scholar gets you mostly stuff about bus schedules.. You'd need a specialized database to find out about grayhound/greyhound racing.

 

E. two fun tips about Harvard Library that every Harvard student should know

Emily:

• The epic story of Harry Widener & Widener Library has become the stuff of legend for generations. Most of it is just that- legend. "Everyone's Wild About Harry" from Harvard Library Bulletin (Spring 2002) (starts on p3.)
  • Bonus: Check out the first article at that link, "HOLLIS Redux." It predicts that it will one day be possible to consult HOLLIS from "Belmont, Boston, Omaha or Osaka."

Fred:

• Take a walk. The books in the libraries are largely arranged by subject.  Find a pertinent book, find it in the stacks, then look around it for other books on the subject. Rummage about. Leave room for serendipity