History 11
Political & Social History of the
United States
Mr. Son Nguyen
Fall 2011
Library Information Competency
Prepared by Ibtesam Dessouky
Library Basics
Logging in to computers – instructions on
workstations in the library lab.
Books – most check out for 2 weeks. You
need student ID to check out materials.
Reference books – cannot be checked out.
Reserve books – most are for building use
for only two hours unless the instructor
allows the material to be checked out.
Periodicals – most print magazines &
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journals can be checked out for two
days.
Today we will cover the
following issues
Developing a search strategy
Selecting information sources
Choosing the right format to retrieve the
information
Accessing the Online Book Catalog & the
Electronic Databases
Evaluating Information Sources
Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources
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Developing a Search Strategy
 State your topic in the form of a question
 For Example:
– How have immigrants impacted American history
and society in the 19th century?
 Determine keywords in your question,
vocabulary, unique spellings, synonyms
• Immigrants
• American
• 19th century
Developing a Search Strategy
(cont’d)
– Using Boolean Operators to connect terms
 AND – Narrows a search. A record must have all
the terms in citation
– Example: “women AND education”
 OR – Broadens a search. Either term may appear
in the citation
– Example: “homemaker OR housewife”
 NOT – Narrows a search by excluding articles
containing the second search term
– Example:”women engineering NOT computer
engineering”
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Selecting Information Sources
Distinguishing between Primary and
Secondary Sources
 Primary Sources
– Material written or produced in the actual time being
investigated. This implies that the researcher cannot go further
back to any existing sources for this source.
– Examples:
• Diaries, journals, speeches, interviews, letters, memos, manuscripts,
memoirs, autobiographies, government records, records of
organizations
• Published materials (books and journal/newspaper articles) written
at the time about a particular event
• Documentary: photographs, audio recordings, movies or videos
• Public opinion polls, field notes, scientific experiments, artifacts
• Reprinted primary sources
• Maps, oral histories postcards, court records, paintings, sculptures,
consumer surveys, patents, schematic drawings, technical reports,
personal accounts, jewelry, private papers, deeds, wills,
Selecting Information Sources
Distinguishing between Primary and
Secondary Sources(cont’d)
 Secondary Sources
– Records generated by an event but written by non-participants in
the event. Based on or derived from primary sources, but they
have been interpreted or analyzed.
– Examples
•
•
•
•
•
Encyclopedias, chronologies, fact books
Biographies, monographs, dissertations
General histories
Most journal articles (except those written at the time)
Most published books (except those published at the time, reprints
of primary sources, or autobiographies)
(Primary vs. Secondary Sources)
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Choosing the Right Format to
Retrieve the Information
It is important to understand the difference between a
"magazine" and a "scholarly journal". It can sometimes be
difficult to make the distinction but here are several clues to
help you with that process:
Journals








Scholarly
Bibliographies
Abstracts
Intended for a specific
audience
Refereed
Very plain, no photos
Target audience
Long articles
Magazines
Popular (News)
No bibliographies
Advertisements
Intended for a general
audience
Non - refereed articles
Colorful and flashy
General audience
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Short articles
Choosing the Right Format to
Retrieve the Information
(cont’d)
Online Catalog (http://www.lahc.edu/library/)
Electronic Databases – Academic OneFile,
Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL)
Selected Reference Works (please see
handout 2)
Internet – www.google.com and
http://lii.org
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Accessing the Online Book Catalog
& the Electronic Databases
1.
2.
From Campus
Connect to the LAHC Library Homepage
http://www.lahc.edu/library
The Online Book Catalog and Electronic
Databases are available to students, faculty and
staff from campus computers without a
password
From Home
Connect to the LAHC Library Homepage
http://www.lahc.edu/library
You need a password
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Evaluating Information Sources
1. Are they up-to-date? Check date of
2.
3.
4.
5.
publication
Is the author credible? Check the author’s
credentials
Is the content objective?
Is it useful?
Is it well written?
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Quoting & Paraphrasing
Sources
Citation Links
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/resdoc5e/
RES5e_ch10_s1-0001.html
http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/Do
cumentation.html
Copyright Link
http://www.whatiscopyright.org/
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Primary Reference Sources
The Annals of America. Volume 1 1493-
1754 Discovering a New World. Ref. E173
.A793 1978 v.1.
The Annals of America. Volume 2 17551783 Resistance and Revolution. Ref.
E173 .A793 1978 v.2.
Stearns, Peter N. Documents in World
History: The Modern Centuries: From
1500 to the Present. D5 D623 1988
v.2.
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Other Resources
 Harbor College Library Home Page www.lahc.edu/library
 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/
 www.google.com
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Other Resources (cont’d)
Ethnic Chronology Series
The American Immigration Collection
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Bibliography
 Primary vs. Secondary Sources. Oct. 2002.
Grossmont College Library. 10 Oct. 2003.
 http://www.grossmont.edu/library/libraryinstruct
ion/flyers&handouts/primary_vs_secondary.pdf
 Quiz
 http://tinyurl.com/hist11nov17
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