Comparative Labor History

Research Tools & Strategies

Research Process Developing a topic Selecting research tools Creating search strategies Locating material Evaluating material

Developing a topic Is the topic feasible?

Is material readily available in the library? Is the material in a language I can read? Is the topic too broad or too narrow? Is there a brief introduction/overview to the

topic?

Selecting research tools What tools to use?

Depends on the topic – the discipline Depends on the format of material you want –

books, scholarly journal articles, magazine or newspaper articles, dissertations, etc.

Depends on the era for which you want material – primary or secondary sources

Searching Databases

What is a database? A database is a large, organized collection

of information. Addresses Recipes Citations to books Photographs Full-text articles

A database can be printed or electronic.

Library Databases Catalogs – List the holdings of a library or

group of libraries. UW Libraries Catalog Summit (Orbis Cascade)

Indexes – List citations to articles published in a set of journals or in a particular discipline. America History & Life EconLit

How are databases organized? Each item in a database is called a record.

In the phone book, a record contains the name of a company, the address and phone number.

In a catalog, a record contains the citation to an item (mostly books), subject headings and location.

In an article database (index), a record usually contains the citation and an abstract.

How are databases organized? Online databases are

searched by matching search terms to the content of the record.

To increase searching effectiveness, records are organized into fields.

Fields Keyword – searches multiple fields at one

time (title, abstract, subject heading); broadest type of search

Title – searches just the words in the title Author – searches for authors; usually

lastname firstname

Database searching generalities Literal

If you type in a phrase it will search for the phrase

Boolean operators/connectors AND - narrows OR - broadens

Truncation/wildcard Allows you to easily search for variant word

endings * in the UW Libraries Catalog

Boolean: AND

child labor AND laws

child labor

laws

Boolean: OR

laws OR legislation

laws

legislation

Boolean: combining

(laws OR legislation) AND child labor

laws

legislation

child labor

Creating Search Statements

Developing a Search Statement

TOPIC

Key Concepts

Synonyms

Related terms:PeoplePlacesEventsDatesOrganizations

Child labor legislation in the US

child labor legislation U.S.

childrenminorswork employment

united statesmassachusettsnew york

National Child Labor Committee, Children’s Bureau, Child Labor Act of 1919, Alan Beveridge, Julia C. Lathrop

lawsbillsregulations

Search statements Query typed into a database:

Keywords/key phrases/key concepts linked by Boolean connectors

child labor AND (law* OR legislation OR regulation*) AND united states

child* AND (work OR employ*) AND history AND united states

child labor AND history AND united states national child labor committee lathrop julia OR beveridge alan child labor act

Locating material Identify possible material by searching the

appropriate search tools Books – go to the library location and call number

indicated in the UW Libraries Catalog. Articles – search the UW Libraries Catalog for the title of

the journal to see if the UW has a subscription, go to location and call number indicated.

If books are not available at the UW – search Summit and request if available

If material is not available at the UW nor in Summit – request books/articles through UWorld Express (interlibrary loan)

Evaluating material Questions to consider

Who is the author? What type of publication is it? What biases? What sources are used to support the author’s

argument? What is the historical context? How was it received?