Consider these primary sources and collections on the Montgomery Bus Boycott:
|
Definition |
Characteristics |
Examples |
Primary Sources
|
Original documents created or experienced concurrently with the event being researched. |
First hand observations, contemporary accounts of the event. Viewpoint of the time. |
Interviews, news footage, data sets, original research, speeches, diaries, letters, creative works, photographs |
Secondary Sources |
Works that analyze, assess, or interpret a historical event, an era, or a phenomenon. Generally uses primary sources. |
Interpretation of information, usually written well after an event. Offers reviews or critiques. |
Research studies, literary criticism, book reviews, biographies, textbooks |
Tertiary Sources |
Sources that identify, locate, and synthesize primary AND secondary sources. |
Reference works, collections of lists of primary and secondary sources, finding tools for sources. |
Encyclopedias, bibliographies, dictionaries, manuals, textbooks, fact books |
Identify your subject by reading basic background information including encyclopedia articles, introductory books, and museum Web sites. These words can be used as your keywords when you search in the databases.
Try to answer the following questions:
Who: names of significant people, movements, or organizations
When: beginning and ending dates for individuals or events
Where: watch for place name changes in the past
What: Significance of subject can affect how many records from the past still exist
More info: watch for further references or citations to find additional information
For example, if the topic is "non-violent protest inspired by Gandhi and the Montgomery Bus Boycott" you might have the following answers:
Who: Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Women’s Political Council (WPC), Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), Ralph Abernathy, Claudette Colvin, Edgar Daniel (E.D.) Nixon, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
When: 1955-1956 (ending on December 20, 1956)
Where: United States; Southern States/South; Montgomery, Alabama
What: the Civil War soldiers suffered a huge mortality and injury rate, and witnessed terrible carnage
Reference books including dictionaries, encyclopedias, quotations, and atlases, plus a wide range of subject-specific reference titles.
Searchable collection of over 500 electronic reference books including dictionaries and subject encyclopedias.
Encyclopedia, Merriam Webster's Dictionary & Thesaurus included.
Complete online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Additional features include videos, magazine and journal articles, dictionary, thesaurus, notable quotations, and relevant Web link.
Think about the types of records or documents that would have been created at the time period surrounding events and issues related to your topic. These are the sort of things you'll have to look for.
Here are some guiding questions (primary sources appear in parentheses):
Make yourself a list of keywords you can use to search for primary sources. In addition to describing your topic, your keywords should include special names for primary source materials.
Keywords that name and help find primary sources include: sources, documentary history, personal narratives, autobiographies, memoirs, eyewitness, correspondence, letters, diaries, advertising, newspapers, maps, artifacts, archives
Here's an example of searching primary sources on civil rights in OneSearch:
First, open OneSearch and select the "Advanced Search" option on the right side of the search box. This will open the advanced search page.
Next, on the Advanced Search page, enter the topic keyword and add other keywords that describe primary source types. For example, the topic is civil rights and the additional keywords are "memoir or autobiography or narrative or diary"
Adapted from LMU's Primary Sources
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