Locating Primary Source Information

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Locating Primary Source Information

• What it is and how to find it

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What is a Primary Sources Document?

• Primary sources provide descriptions and
  information on a specific topic and allow the
  researcher to get as close as possible to what
  actually happened during a historical event or
  time period. 
• Primary sources were either created during the
  time period being studied, or were created at a
  later date by a participant in the events being
  studied (as in the case of memoirs) and they
  reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant
  or observer.

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Types of Primary Sources Material

• Journal or Newspaper articles
• Books
• Press releases
• Media Transcripts
• Interviews
• Government statements
• Diaries
• Reviews

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Krupp Library Resources that contain Primary
Source Information

• Proquest historical newspaper archives
• JSTOR
• CQ Historic documents series
• Periodical back file

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Proquest Historical Newspapers

• ProQuest Historical Newspapers offers full-text
  and full-image articles for newspapers dating
  back to the 18th century. As part of the ProQuest
  Historical Newspapers program, every issue of
  each title includes the complete
  papercover-to-coverwith full-page and article
  images in downloadable PDF.  The Krupp Library
  subscribes to the historic New York Times, The
  Wall Street Journal.

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JSTOR

• JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization with a
  dual mission to create and maintain a trusted
  archive of important scholarly journals, and to
  provide access to these journals as widely as
  possible. JSTOR offers researchers the ability to
  retrieve high-resolution, scanned images of
  journal issues and pages as they were originally
  designed, printed, and illustrated. The journals
  archived in JSTOR span many disciplines. JSTOR is
  not a current issues database.

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JSTOR Tutorials

• JSTOR offers a tutorial to help you get started
• JSTOR Tutorials

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CQ Historical Documents

• Published annually since 1972, the Historic
  Documents Series now contains 33 volumes of
  primary sources. Each volume includes
  approximately one hundred documents covering the
  most significant events of the year. These
  documents range from presidential speeches,
  international agreements, and Supreme Court
  decisions to U.S. governmental reports,
  scientific findings, and cultural discussions.

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The HELIN Catalog

• The Krupp Library maintains collections of
  archived journals known as Periodicals Back file.
  You may search the HELIN Catalog to see what
  titles and holdings we have. If you would like
  to obtain an issue from the Periodical Back file
  please ask for assistance from a library staff
  member.

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Periodical Back file search steps
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Periodical Back file Continued

• Once you have determined the Krupp Library owns
  the issue you would like to view ask at the
  Circulation or Reference Desk staff to assist you
  in retrieving the material.
• There is no open browsing of the Back file

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QuestionsIf you have questions about primary
source documents you may want consult with your
professor or a reference librarian.http//bryant2
.bryant.edu/library/reference.htm