Finding Sources

IntroductionPrimary and secondary sourcesTypes of sourcesLocating sourcesTalk About ItYour Turn

Tech Tools in this presentation• Search engines• Soople• American Memory Collection

Now that you have your research questions, how do you find the information you need?

There are many ways to track down useful sources of information.

Introduction

Discovering these methods is the key to your search.

Primary and secondary sources

The most basic way to categorize any source in research is as a primary source or a secondary source.

A primary source is firsthand, original information by someone who participated in the event being researched.

A secondary source is information derived from or about primary sources.

Primary and secondary sources

A published piece such as a newspaper or magazine article is considered primary if written soon after the fact and not as a historical account.

Primary sources are original documents.

Photograph of Abraham Lincoln as seen on $5 dollar bill.

Declaration of Independence

Primary and secondary sources

Secondary sources are at least one step removed from the event under review. They interpret, assign values to, conjecture upon, and draw conclusions about the events reported in primary sources.

DVD offering of PBS documentary

Article Book

Is each source below primary or secondary?

Primary and secondary sources

a photograph of an abolitionist

a slave diary

magazine articles about the Civil War

a recording of an African American spiritual

a biography of Harriet Tubman

Secondary Sources

articles about the Civil Warbiography

Primary Sources

diaryrecordingphotograph

• Pamphlets

• Personal narratives

• Lyrics

Types of sources

There are many types of primary and secondary sources available. Below are more examples.

• Original artwork

• Political posters

• Historic film

• Interviews

• Musical compositions

• Books

• Biographies

• Critiques

• Journal articles

• Dissertation

• Renditions

Primary Secondary

Types of sourcesNondigital

Another way to categorize types of sources is as digital or nondigital. Digital sources are anything that can be accessed or viewed using a computer. Nondigital sources are

• books

• government documents

• maps

• videotapes

• sound recordings

• music scores

You can use library catalogues, search engines, databases, and so on to locate nondigital sources, but to view them, you have to get an actual physical copy.

Types of sourcesDigital

The key to locating relevant digital sources is to know how to search for information by using the computer and the Internet.

Access library databases

Browse Internet sites identified by librarians in Research Guides

Use subject directories

Use search engines

Learn advanced search techniques

How do you locate sources of information?

Believe it or not, even in the world of technology, a great place to start is your school or public library.

Locating sources

Libraries make locating sources easy with an online card catalogue, a collection of information about every resource that a system of libraries owns.

Locating sources

Most libraries have special computers for searching their online catalogues. Many also offer free Internet access.

Search engines are online tools for locating Internet sources. They search the Web for relevant information based on keywords you select.

If you enter several words, a search engine will treat each word as a separate keyword.  

If you put key words in quotation marks, the search engine will locate sources that contain exactly those words.

Tech Tool: Search Engines

Tech Tool: Search Engines

Search engines are a great way to locate many digital sources quickly.

Because different search engines offer different features, you need to test out a few.

(Yahoo! Search) Reproduced with permission of Yahoo! Inc. ©2008 by Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logo are trademarks of Yahoo! Inc.

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Tech Tool: Soople

Soople is a fast and easy way to use the advanced features of Google. You can specify a search by file type, media, or a particular site. You can also search scholarly journals.

Locating sources Online databases

Online databases are collections of records or information that allow you access to the deep Web (or “invisible Web”).

The deep Web contains sources that, unlike typical sites, are not found by a regular search engine.

Databases manage these hidden sources much like a filing cabinet, and you can search the database for your topic.

Tech Tool: American Memory Collection

The American Memory collection is a free, public database provided by the Library of Congress.

It was created to capture America’s “memory” through historical documents, moving images, sound recordings, and print and photographic media.

Tech Tool: American Memory Collection

The collection allows you to search in many sources for digitized information on your topic, such as

written or spoken word

sound recordings

still and moving images

photographs

maps

sheet music

You can then search within a collection for your specific topic and select a source you want to view.

Tech Tool: American Memory Collection

Browsing makes locating primary sources easy. You can browse by collection, time period, or geographical location.

Discuss these questions with your classmates.

Talk About It

1.Which types of sources listed at the beginning of this lesson have you used before? Why did you choose that type of source? Was it helpful?

2. What types of primary and secondary sources have you used before? How did you locate them? How did you use them?

3. Have you ever used a database? What databases are available to you through your school library?

4. After viewing this presentation, what are some new ways you will look for sources?

Your Turn

On a computer, follow these directions:

1. Choose a specific topic. Using Soople, find the following types of sources related to the topic:

• a PowerPoint presentation

• an image

• a PDF

2. Add the term database to your search and list the top two responses on your paper.

The End