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?