Doing research on

Cities and Social Movements

Research Workshop for HIST 64A

Celia Caust-Ellenbogen (she/her)
Liaison for Teaching with Special Collections + Associate Curator, Friends Historical Library

Simon Elichko (they/them)

Social Sciences & Data Librarian

McCabe Library

What we'll work on today:

• Getting topic ideas
   
• Identifying historical scholarship related to your interests
   
• Using databases to find primary sources, such as historical newspaper and magazine articles
   
• Hands-on experience with primary sources from Swarthmore's archives and special collections

Getting topic ideas

• Global Nonviolent Action Database
• Reference books (print/online)
• Primary sources

Research Guide for HIST 64A

Start at Tripod (tripod.swarthmore.edu). Choose Research Guides (top of page), then search for cities and social movements.

Finding history books related to your topic

Tripod Library Search

Go to: tripod.swarthmore.edu

Search for Women's House of Detention

Finding history books related to your topic

Tripod Library Search

Start on tripod.swarthmore.edu

Go to Advanced Search

Choose Books + Media

Change "Any Field" to Subject

Search for "20th century" and history

Once you have results, use filter for Region

Finding history books:
key questions to ask

• Who?  Who is this book about?
  Who wrote it? (Are they a historian?)
   
• When?  What time period does it focus on?
  When was it written?
   
• What?  What aspects of the topic are emphasized?
  What kind of sources did the author use?

Using databases to find primary sources

Research Guide for HIST 64A
 

Go to the page Databases
with Primary Sources

Look up book reviews
(and research articles)

Research Guide for HIST 64A

Start at Tripod (tripod.swarthmore.edu). Choose Research Guides (top of page), then search for cities and social movements.

Go to the database America, History and Life