American Studies Senior Seminar: Finding Your Topic Lois Coleman, Research and Instructional Services Librarian [email protected] | 212.854.9095 March 2011
Barnard Library Research Desk Contact Info: Hours are at library.barnard.edu/using-library/hours (in the summer it's Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm) Go to library.barnard.edu/using-library/consultations to request a one-on-one consultation with a Barnard librarian if you have trouble finding the resources you need. Remember - at the reference desk, there are no stupid questions. You are not interrupting us!
Generating Ideas for your Topic Brainstorm about any questions that arose in your mind while you were taking your concentration courses or junior colloquium. Take another look at the books and articles that intrigued you the most, and also re-read the notes you took during those courses. Write down some questions and ideas – don’t judge whether what you’re writing makes any sense, just let your mind play with concepts that interest you. Look at the Paradigm Online Writing Assistant -- www.powa.org/discovering -- for some suggestions on how to go about this. Your topic should not be too broad, or you will not be able to cover it in sufficient depth. If there are entire books written about your topic, it is probably too broad. However, if your thesis can be fully discussed in a few paragraphs, it is probably too narrow.
Finding Good Search Terms You need as many good ways of expressing your search terms as possible. You can use thesaurus.com or any other thesaurus to generate synonyms. For example, synonyms for “business” are “industry,” “commerce,” and “enterprise.” A synonym for “letters” is “correspondence.” When searching a library catalog or database that uses the Library of Congress system, it helps to find out the correct Subject Headings for your topic: for example, in CLIO, the American War of Independence is United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.
Looking for Primary Materials The Barnard Library American History and American Studies Research Guide at library.barnard.edu/find-books/guides/AMST/AMST lists the most useful databases for primary research. For archives, the easiest to use database is ArchivesUSA. There are many highly specialized archival resources and historical databases listed on the Databases page. For archives, select Resource Type “Archival Catalogs." Also search for newspaper and magazine articles from your time period in American Periodicals Series (1740-1940), Readers Guide Retrospective (1890-1982) and ProQuest Historical databases.
RefWorks Go to the RefWorks Guide at library.barnard.edu/support/refworks for instructions in using RefWorks. Sign up for an individual account on the RefWorks Web site. Set up a folder for your thesis, and enter a citation for each book and article you think you might want to use. Use the notes field for each book and article to take some notes on what you read (or use 5 x 8 index cards). Two Examples from Different Time Periods with Different Themes
Example 1
Theme: Race Period: 1900-1945 Courses taken: BC3110 Africana Colloquium: Critical Race Theory BC3121: Black Women in America BC3196: Home to Harlem: Literature of the Harlem Renaissance W4225 Black Movements in the United States Broad, general idea: The beginnings of the NAACP Basic Concepts and Search Terms: NAACP or “National Association for the Advancement of Colored People” Resources found: Papers of female NAACP activists, and publications of the NAACP from the time period 1910 to 1945, at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, found through ArchivesUSA Narrower topic: Women’s activism and involvement in the early years of the NAACP
Example 2
Theme: Media and popular culture Period: Colonial, Revolutionary and Early Republic Courses taken: BC3145: Early American Drama and Performance: Staging a Nation BC3494: The Era of Independence in the Americas V3151: Theatre History II V3602: Religion and American Culture Broad, general idea: Theater in the American colonies Basic Concepts and Search Terms: theater or theatre or drama, dates 1700-1800 Resources found: Playbills and other theatrical materials from the 18th century in the Columbia Rare Books Library, as well as in the Butler stacks; 18th century articles from American Periodicals Series Online. Narrower topic: Drama and Puritanism in the American colonies