PODS
World History Pathfinder
Primary Sources (Find a workable collection of primary sources. The sources will dictate
your thesis statement.)
1. Eagle Eyes – World History 1850-1999 Primary Sources Africa
World History 1850 -1999 Primary Sources Asia
World History 1850 -1999 Primary Sources Caribbean
World History 1850-1999 Primary Sources Central America
World History 1850-1999 Primary Sources North America
World History 1850-1999 Primary Sources South America
2. NCS Upper School Library Primary Sources Catalog
3. History Study Center – Click on Study Units, then choose desired interest area.
4. Google Search : “partition of India and Pakistan” “primary sources”
“partition of India and Pakistan” “primary documents”
5. Google Scholar – use similar search terms
OVERVIEW
1. (Read an overview : the who, what, where, when, why , how of the issue)
2. Underline the subdivisions and hyperlinks in the overview. Use them as a means to
narrow the topic and narrow your searching in various databases.
Wikipedia (Be sure to scroll down and click on external links if they are primary
sources.)
Great Events from History 19th Century
Great Events from History 20th Century
Britannica (available on Web site www.ncslibrary.org- be sure to scroll to the bottom of
the article for related link sites.
Database Searching: Performing the most precise search.
1. After reading an overview, start reading the primary sources and underlining key words,
always with the idea of narrowing your search: e.g. Vietnam, France, Indochina, Geneva
Accords, South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Example: Broad Topic
Less Broad
Narrower
Narrowest
Vietnam
Vietnam War
Vietnam War and Ho Chi Minh
The Role of Ho Chi Minh in the Vietnam War
2. After accumulating a list of search terms, use the Advanced or Power Search features of the
following databases to locate perhaps: more primary and secondary sources.
Historical New York Times: Contains articles from 1854 -2011. Combine search terms.
Example: shining path and Guzman If the article was written during the time of the event,
it is primary. If it was written after the time of the event, it is secondary. To search for
primary sources, scroll down and choose the decade when the event occurred. To choose
secondary sources, leave the default “decade” setting in place.
JSTOR – Use the advanced search. Unclick “Include links to external content.”Type in
search terms. Example: Mau Mau Rebellion and Kenya. Click on article. Set search
categories for African Studies, History and or Political Science. If you wish to search for
primary sources, use the Date Range From and To options to input the date range when the
event happened. If you do not insert a date range, your results will automatically include
secondary and perhaps primary sources.
Lexis Nexis (articles from 1980 –present day) Under “Search the News”, type in search
terms. Example: Rwandan Genocide. When results appear, click on the Sort function and
choose oldest to newest. If the event occurred between 1980 and 1997, primary sources will
appear first.
Secondary Sources: Go to http://www.ncslibrary.org and click on CATALOG. Type in search
terms. If you find a book from the STA libraries, complete a request for it, and a librarian will
get it for you.
Citing Your Sources
1. Click on Noodletools on the library’s website.
2. Login and click on Create Project.
3. Choose Chicago/Turabian Advanced
4. When you generate the citation it will show it as a Bibliography and a Footnote.
5. If you want a footnote, do the following. Highlight it. In Microsoft Word, Choose
References, then Insert Footnote. It will jump you to the bottom of the page in your
paper.
6.Copy and paste the footnote that you generated from Noodletools. If you need an
Endnote, click on Insert Endnote instead.
Using Databases from Home
1. Click on the link titled Home Access
2. Type in the word Eagles (with a capitol letter “E”.)
3. A list of databases with individual passwords and usernames will appear for each
database.
4. Remember JSTOR requires you to click on the link and establish a username and
password.
5. If there is a URL address showing, type it in rather copy and paste it in. For some odd
reason, it works better.
6. For some databases all you need to do is click on the database from our website. Type
in the required username and password that you retrieved from the Home Access list.
Research Question and Thesis Statement Template
1. Go to http://www.ncslibrary.org
2. Click on Modern World History Example: Irish Potato Famine
Prepared by K. Craver 4/2015