HIST 110 (Riggs)

On sabbatical until January 2025. For research help  LIVE CHAT  from the library homepage or call/email/text the Library.

Sample chat questions:

1. Can you help me find a primary source about the Salem witch trials?
2. Is this journal article I found scholarly and peer-reviewed/refereed?
3. Are my Chicago Style citations correct?

Source #1) Visual primary sources created at the time of the thing you are studying include engravings, maps, popular or fine art pieces, an advertisement or cartoon, etc.

Source #2) Written primary sources created at the time of the thing you are studying include newspaper articles, letters, diaries, travel accounts, treaties, speech transcriptions, etc.

• View the Historical Research Guidelines in Canvas
  • These may be helpful: Library of Congress Prints & Photographs, National Archives Digital Photography Collection, New York Public Library Digital Archives Collection
• Adam Matthew Explorer - 15th-21st centuries
• Gale Archives Unbound 
• Gale Primary Sources  
• All of the MCC Library's primary source databases

Background information & initial research

To get a working knowledge about your topic (events, key people, places, etc.) your instructor said Wikipedia and Google Scholar may be helpful. I will add to that our best background information database, Gale eBooks.

Source #3) Scholarly Secondary sources discussing the thing you are researching should come from scholarly, peer-reviewed journals or book chapters from scholarly books/anthologies. Your instructor asks for sources that are at most 15-20 years old, if possible.

JSTOR

• After doing a search note the limiters for Journals and Book Chapters on the left side
• You'll need to Google journal names to determine if they're peer-reviewed/referred. It should say in the About section or Notes to Authors and/or list an editorial board of subject-matter experts.
• Sample search: Salem witch trials

EBSCOHOST: ALL DATABASES 

• Make sure to check the box next to Peer Reviewed
• Sample search: Salem witch trials

GOOGLE SCHOLAR  (NOT FOR THIS CLASS, JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS)

1. Sample search: Salem witch trials
2. If you get to a pay wall (asking for you to pay) simply request the article (FOR FREE) from the MiraCosta Library. Click on ILL Article Request here: https://library.miracosta.edu/request

Source #4) Contemporary popular culture sources from the relative present include memes, advertisements or commercials, film or TV clips (5 minutes or less), songs, fashion collections or editorial spreads, etc.

• I *think* the sky is the limit here.
• GIPHY.com - https://giphy.com/
• https://www.youtube.com/
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/salemwitchtrials/