Gathering Sources

Basic Requirements:  *Honors*

Minimum of 12 sources including 8 primary sources

No more than 3 sources from academic sites on the Internet

Books

Books are still the best type of source for a historical paper.  In order for a book to be published, it had to be reviewed by a board of historians for plagiarism and accuracy.  This is not true with the Internet.  It is easy to order books online.  This is your best bet since you can see if there are books in the Merrimack Valley instead of just in your local library.  Take the following steps.

  1. Go to www. mvlc.org
  2. Click on libraries
  3. Scroll to Wilmington (or library of your choice)
  4. Click on library catalog
  5. Scroll to Wilmington once again
  6. Type in general keyword phrases for your topic.  You may want to try a couple of different ones.
  7. At this point you should have some results.  You can scroll and for the ones that apply, click request item.
  8. You will now need your library card.  The pin # is usually the last four digits of the phone # the library has listed for you.  If you are not sure, call the library
  9. The book will be ordered for you and you will be contacted when it arrives!
Databases 
Databases contain numerous published magazinea and journal articles in an electronic format.  Please note that using a database does not count as website.  Recommended databases for this research project include Infotrac, EBSCO and General Reference Center Gold.  These databases can be acces through www.mvlc.org by clicking on "other reference databases" in left side bar and using your library card.  You could also search databases through the high school website  http://www.wilmington.k12.ma.us/WHS/whs_library_databases.htm.  Please also see the attachments below for helpful suggestions. 

 

Websites

Generally, websites are not good sources of information for historical research.  It is good for quick information or general information.  Websites that contain the url “.com” are not reliable for research because they are commercial websites and ultimately are trying to sell something.  These websites should not be used as a source for a research paper.  Some of the following websites could possibly be used, but only after serious evaluation using the CARS rubric:

.org- website by an organization, but it could be biased

.edu-website by education institution, could just be course assignments/materials

.gov-website by the government, could be biased

.net-website by a network, depends on the network

All websites that are used for a research paper must have a CARS website evaluation completed on them.  No “.com” sites are allowed.

 

 

Websites to aid in annotated bibliographies

Purdue University

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/

University of Wisconsin Writing Center

http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/AnnotatedBibliography.html

Cornell University

http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm

Skidmore College

http://www.skidmore.edu/library/help/annotatedbibliography.htm

University of Toronto

http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/library/instruction/howtowritebiblio.html

 

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Tracey Kassin,
Oct 5, 2010 7:10 AM
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Tracey Kassin,
Sep 22, 2010 4:11 AM
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Tracey Kassin,
Sep 22, 2010 4:11 AM
ĉ
ď
Tracey Kassin,
Sep 22, 2010 4:11 AM