HST 290: Korean War Searching for Sources

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HST 290 Korean WarSearching for Sources

• Dr. Yixin Chen
• Ms. Sue Cody

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Small Group Discussion

• Do you like doing research?
• Why or why not?
• What confuses/frustrates you most about doing
  research?
• What questions do you have about conducting
  research for this class?
• How would you rate your current research skills?
• Strong/Satisfactory/Needs improvement/Poor (Take
  a vote.)

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Our plan for the week

• Review Research Guide for this course.
• Explore various finding aids.
• Learn to identify primary sources.
• Become familiar with special services.
• Interlibrary Loan
• Ask a librarian

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How much do you know about US-Asian Cold War
relations?

• Where do you plan to start?

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Which finding aids are most useful?

• For books?
• For scholarly articles?
• For government documents?
• For articles written during the time studied?
• For other primary sources?

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Finding Books

• Library Catalog
• local UNCP/FSU
• WorldCat
• 9,000 libraries
• Some databases lead to books
• Cited directly
• Book reviews

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Randall Online Catalog Keyword v. Subject

• Whats the difference?
• What are some useful Subject Heading for the Cold
  War?
• Start with a keyword search, then look for
  subjects in the records retrieved.

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Keyword/Subject features

• Keyword
• Finds words anywhere in record.
• Look at records to see subject headings.
• Search lots of terms, word variations

• Subject Headings
• Controlled vocabulary
• May not be natural language but may find more
• Hierarchical arrangement helps narrow topic
• Searches only the subject field

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Searching Personal Names

• Keyword searches
• Either order
• Try name variations, e.g., initials
• Author/Subject
• Last name first (Western names)
• Consistent use
• Example Mao

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Online Catalog links

• Subjects for related items
• Call numbers for related items (usually)
• Library of Congress outline
• http//www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/lcco.html
• SuDoc arranges by agency
• Cover, summary, reviews
• Location maps
• Expanding search to UNCCLC
• Repeating search

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Journal Holdings Access

• Follow the citation trail!
• Search your citation
• Does the library have it?
• What format or location?
• What online access?

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Working from a known citation

• Pearson, Lester Bowles. Allies will not Back
  U.S. Against Communism in Asia. U.S. News
  World Report 34 (June 19, 1953)56-?
• Zhang, Xiaoming, The Vietnam War, 1964-1969
  From a Chinese Perspective. Journal of Military
  History 60 (1996) 731-762.
• Oh, Bonnie B. C. The Korean War No Longer
  Forgotten. Journal of Asian Studies. 57 (1998)
  156-160.

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Next Class

• Databases
• Start exploring on your own
• What 3 databases look most promising? Be ready to
  discuss on Thursday!
• Primary Sources
• What they are
• How to find them

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HST 290 Korean WarSearching for Sources

• Dr. Yixin Chen
• Ms. Sue Cody

15
Databases

• Which did you find useful?
• Why?
• What problems did you have (if any)?

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Database Exploration

• Historical Abstracts
• WorldCat
• JStor
• Academic Search Premier
• Project Muse
• Search your topic

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Search tips

• And, Or, Not
• And narrows
• Or adds synonyms/related
• Not excludes (use carefully)
• Truncate for word variations
• (diploma diplomacy, diplomat, diplomats)
• Words anywhere or phrase?
• Cold War

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Questions?

• What will you do when you have questions?

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Primary Sources

• Dairies, journals, other writings of players
• Eyewitness/Observer accounts
• Memoirs, autobiographies (written later)
• Official documents
• Laws, treaties, reports, orders, transcripts of
  proceedings, addresses, etc.
• Images, Artifacts

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Primary or Secondary?

• Scholarly article on President Trumans
  decision-making process relating to the
  Korean War.
• National Security Council Directives issued
  during the Korean War years.
• An encyclopedia of the Korean War.
• U.S. soldiers letters home from the Korean War.
• Biography of General MacArthur.
• Government publication from the Armys Center of
  Military History.
• 1986 book by a historian about the integration of
  African-American of soldiers in the U.S. Armed
  Forces during the Korean War.

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Primary or Secondary?

• English translation of a memoir by Paek Son-yop
  (South Korean Army officer)
• New York Times articles on the Tet offensive,
  1968.
• New York Times articles on the 50th anniversary
  of the Korean War.
• Photographs relating to the Korean War on the
  Eisenhower Library website.
• Vietnam War Chronology.

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Randall Online Catalog

• Standard Subheadings
• Correspondence
• Diaries
• Personal narratives
• Sources
• Treaties
• See guide for others

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Randall Online Catalog

• Search general headings, use indexes
• Vietnam War and personal narratives
• Search specific headings or persons
• Harry S. Truman as author
• Look for items not tagged as primary source
• Primary documents may be included in secondary
  sources
• Eyewitness authors may not be tagged as sources

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WorldCat

• May find items at Randall that catalog search
  didnt (records enhanced later)
• Finds items for ILL requests
• Rare items not lent
• Rare items may be reprinted available
• Websites included often w/ free access!

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Periodicals and Newspapers

• Readers Guide Retrospective
• New York Times Archive
• Official Index to the Times (London) (INDEX AI21
  .T46) 
• PAIS Archive

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Official Documents

• Foreign Relations of the United States
• U.S. Statutes at Large (laws)
• U.S. Congressional Record
• Lexis-Nexis Congressional
• Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications
• UN Year Book
• Presidential Papers

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Digital Collections

• Digital National Security Archive
• Presidential Libraries
• See the Research Guide for more!

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BibliographiesFollow the trail

• Book-length (Reference Collection)
• Secondary sources (books and journal articles)
• Types
• Classified (easiest to find primary sources)
• Alphabetical
• Footnotes/Endnotes

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Internet Finds

• Korean History A Bibliography
• Wars for Viet Nam 1945 to 1975 
• Vietnam War Bibliography 
• East and Southeast Asia An Annotated Directory
  of Internet Resources

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Questions?

• What will you do when you have questions?

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Ask for help its what we do!

• codys_at_uncw.edu
• http//library.uncwil.edu/askref.html