E-Library Trail Assignment (35 points)

HIST 201 (Online, Summer I Class)

Due in a MS Word or Open Office Document before 10:00 pm on June 19 (I will create
a drop box under week 3’s course content where you can submit your assignment).

This assignment is a supplement to your history paper in that it will help you construct
your research question and gather relevant resource materials.

One of the primary expectations of this assignment includes full citations. Remember
your paper instructions dictate, “failure to cite your work will result in an automatic F
(this is not negotiable).” It is imperative, therefore, to pay careful attention on your
method of citation. You may use either MLA or Chicago citation methods as long as you
are consistent throughout this entire assignment. The Purdue OWL website provides a
great deal of information on these citation methods.

Number and type-up your answers for this assignment. For example, put a (1) with your
research question next to it, then a (2) with the citations for your subject encyclopedias,
and so on (see below for further instructions).

Warning: While you can complete this entire assignment online, you can easily end
up taking several hours searching the MC library website extensively to complete it.
In other words, do not wait the day before to complete this assignment.

Searching and locating relevant resources is an invaluable skill that can help you in
several different professions besides history!

Rubric

Question 1 – 4 points
Question 2 – 3 points
Question 3 – 3 points
Question 4 – 6 points
Question 5 – 3 points
Question 6 – 6 points

Following proper format – 4 points

Proper Citations – 6 points
Total: 35 points

*Please note that you can certainly complete this assignment at home, but you will
need your M# handy to access the library materials online.
1. Identify your assignment selection (Options #1, 2 or 3) and pose your Research
Question. Your HIST 201 assignment requires you to analyze a series of political
cartoons, or a public memorial within a particular period of U.S. history.
Constructing a research question will help you complete this task. For example,
“Do Herblock’s political cartoons accurately reflect the Second Red Scare”
provides a focus for further research.

2. The next step is to locate and cite two entries from two different subject
encyclopedias or dictionaries that are relevant to your research question.

Subject encyclopedias/dictionaries are not the same as general

encyclopedias/dictionaries. The latter include sources like Wikipedia, or
Webster’s Dictionary. These sources will not be counted towards your
assignment so avoid them.

A pool of experts, on the other hand, compiles data and formulates a Subject
encyclopedia, which focuses on a specific field. For instance, the printer reference
resource work Encyclopedia of World War II, provides entries specifically on
historical topics relevant to World War II. (Make sure to check out the History
Reference Sources tab to aid your search for a Subject Encyclopedia).

3. The next step is to find and obtain 2-3 monographs written from 1980 and onward
on your given subject. Make sure to properly cite their information (While you
will not be able to obtain these books without going to the MC libraries, this
question provides you with the opportunity to hone your MC online catalog
searching skills).

A monograph is a scholarly book written by an expert on a particular subject. For

example, historian James McPherson’s book Battle Cry of Freedom is a
monograph written specifically about the U.S. during the U.S. Civil War.

As you are probably aware, there is a lot of rubbish written by the public that
possesses minimal value. It is essential, therefore, to locate scholarly works. The
best method in completing this task is using MC’s online catalog.

If you are having trouble with locating a source, first contact your campus
reference librarian (Nancy Nyland is a great reference librarian located at
Germantown campus).
4. Now find three journal articles that are available online. Please provide the
database from which you found these sources. In order to find the online articles,
go to the MC library website and then click on the tab “Articles & Databases.”
Click on the “Databases by Subject” link. You will then see a list of all the
subjects MC offers, click on “History.” A long list of journal articles will then
appear. I recommend first utilizing “JSTOR,” “Academic OneFile,” and “Project
Muse,” but there are other databases that are equally helpful.

5. The final search task of this assignment is to find two newspaper articles on your
topic. If you are completing options #1-2, you must find 2 articles from 2000-
2015. If you are completing option #3, you only need to locate 1 article from
1941-present. The MC library offers an extensive number of historic and current
newspaper subscriptions. I recommend that you use “ProQuest Newspapers,” for
this assignment.

6. Answer the following questions, and go beyond a 1-2 sentence response in order
to obtain the full points for this section:
a. How do you know the documents/articles are scholarly sources? What
distinguishes them from non-scholarly sources?
b. Why are only using one or two sources inefficient in completing this
course’s book review assignment?
c. Has your research during this assignment led you to change your research
question?
d. How useful do you think your primary source will be in your final paper
(try to go beyond the response, “It will be very useful,” or, “It will not be
very useful”)?
e. Finally, how useful do you think MC’s research resources will be to you
during your duration as a student? Please be honest and provide more than
one sentence for your response (this information is used for feedback for
MC’s library services).