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U.S. History Module 1: Topic Selection and Secondary Sources: Post-Class Assignment

U.S. History Research Modules

PeliCAT

PeliCAT is the online catalog of the Katharine Brush Library.

Post-Class Assignment

Finding Encyclopedias for Background Research—On one potential topic

Finish working on the Finding Encyclopedias assignment using library reference and background resources

Topic Proposal

  • Complete the Topic Proposal Table
  • Also, include your Preliminary Bibliography in this document. Instruction below in the Preliminary Bibliography section
  • Copy and paste the encyclopedia tables into your own Google Doc
  • Use the Example: Topic Proposal and Preliminary Bibliography to guide you through completing your table and bibliography

Preliminary Bibliography

Follow carefully the instructions below to create a preliminary bibliography.

1. Begin with your copy of Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty!. Turn to the “Suggested Readings” section beginning on page A-1 in the book’s appendix. Determine which chapter in Foner’s book features or would feature your research topic (See Note 1).

2. Record at least two book titles that are likely to contain information on your topic.

3. Search for the two titles in PeliCAT, the library catalog and Ebsco eBook Academic Collection (See Note 2).

4. Use the catalog record's subject headings to find two additional titles that are in our collection.

5. If using print books, locate your books in the stacks on the second floor. Once you’re there, find two additional books that are located near the books for which you are searching.

6. Enter all of your titles in NoodleTools. These NoodleTools tutorials will show you how to create a project and import books:

7.  Add, the preliminary bibliography citations for all six of your books as well as three subject headings to the Topic Proposal Table linked above. The breakdown of the books:

  • 2 from Foner or encyclopedias
  • 2 from the subject headings
  • 2 from browsing in the stacks or using Ebsco eBook collection

Note 1: If your topic does not have any relevant book sources in Give Me Liberty!, you should then consult subject-specific encyclopedias and online databases. If necessary and based on the nature of your topic, you may need to make special arrangements with your teacher.

Note 2: If the KBL does not have any of the book sources listed in Give Me Liberty!, you should broaden your search to focus on a background source on your topic’s era. So, for instance, if I am researching the Second Great Awakening in Connecticut, I would turn to Chapter 9 on page A-9 and select Jon Butler’s work, Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People. If the library does not have copies of other specific works on the Second Great Awakening recommended by Foner, I would then select a general history of the period such as David Walker Howe’s What God Hath Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848.