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ENGL 102 - Roewe, Spring 2022: Historical Events and Their Interpretation

Historical Events and Their Interpretation

Your Assignment

This Research Guide will help you find sources for your final research project in Liz Roewe's ENGL 102 class.  The assignment asks that you:

  • identify an historical event which has issues of ambiguity, bias, and differences in point of view, preservation, and interpretation
  • do not write about the Holocaust or any event that occurred in the last 40 years
  • research your historical events to find different points of view
  • look at primary sources (information from people who experienced the event first hand) and secondary sources (information synthesized by historians)
  • use at least four authoritative sources for your final draft
  • make an argument about which of your sources most honestly and accurately describes and interprets your event

Welcome!

Start your research at the
SCC Library webpage.

 SCC Library web page

Research help

Questions about research, citation, login, or other?

 Contact a librarian any time!

History Research Guide

History Research Guide

This research guide, created by SCC librarians, will be especially useful for finding primary sources.

Looking for an historical event to write about?

Browse these library research databases to identify an historical event for your paper.

Library Databases

Background Information from Reference Books

History Databases

Books

Here's an example of how you might use the eBook Collection to find first hand accounts (primary sources).  Try searching your event along with words like diaries, letters, speeches, interviews, memoirs, and journals.

search example for eBook Collection database

Periodicals (magazines, newspapers, scholarly journals)

Here's an example of how you can do a more precise search in Academic Search Complete by changing the search field.  In this case the field has been changed to Subject Terms.  This search will only retrieve articles that are indexed under the subjects of the Vietnam War and the Draft.

search example for Academic Search Complete database

Evaluating Information

WWW Test

  • Who's the author?  Is the author an expert?
  • What's the nature of the information?  Is it objective or biased?  Is it based on careful research?
  • When was it written?  Is it appropriately up-to-date?

Domain searching

You may want to consider limiting your Google search to a particular domain, such as a .edu or .gov.

Japanese internment site:.gov

McCarthyism site:.edu