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
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