History vs Pop Culture --Finding Sources

 John Brown -- Martyr or Maniac ?

After decades of abolitionist activity immediately prior to the Civil War John Brown led a raid
to inspire those held in slavery to rise up and overthrown their oppressors  and bring an end to
 slavery.  His ill-fated raid into Harper's Ferry led to the death of most of those who
came with him and his own execution. At the time, he inspired quite different reaction in different
sections of the nation.  In the North, he was seen as a martyr by many, but in the South, he was
viewed as a butcher bent on the destruction of innocent whites. The passions excited by
his story is generally seen as a significant factor in the coming of the Civil War.  Today, scholarly
debates on his character and significance continues, though in the post-Civil Rights Era he is more
likely to be viewed as a hero than a maniacal sociopath.

Step 1:  To investigate him or any historical person or event it is good to get the facts that are
accepted.   A good place to begin is the encyclopedia or other fact book

• Britannica Online -- includes the complete encyclopedia, as well as Merriam-Webster's
  Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus, Britannica Student Encyclopedia and the Britannica
  Book of the Year. You can also use Encyclopedia Britannica Online to search an Internet
  directory that includes more than 300,000 links to Web sites selected, rated,
  and reviewed by Britannica editors.
• ReferenceSuite @ FACTS.com - facts from the last 60 years

Step 2: Find Books.  Books offer comprehensive treatment of topics.

• The Libraries' book collection includes works that offer comprehensive treatments of historical topics. Use
  PILOT (http://pilot.passhe.edu:8001/) our online catalog to find books in our collection as well as links to the full-text of electronic reserve
   items and other valuable information on the Internet.
• To search the catalogs of other Pennsylvania Libraries, and to borrow from them directly, search PALCI 
  and  log in using your 16-digit I-card number.)
• WorldCat --search the OCLC Database of paper and electronic titles. Books located through this database can
  generally be acquired through Interlibrary Loan.

Step 3: Find Scholarly articles in Full-text

Researchers can access large collections scholarly journal articles thorough full-text databases.
(To gain access from home,  use your 16 digit I-card number.)

• EBSCOhost--provides access to the full-text of over one thousand periodicals and bibliographic
   access  to thousands more. (For scholarly articles limit search to Scholarly Peer Reviewed) Journals.
• Gale/Infotrac-provides access to the full-text of over one thousand periodicals and bibliographic
   access to thousands more. (For scholarly articles do your search and then click on the Academic
  journals tag on results page.)
• Project MUSE -- provides more than 200 full-text online scholarly journals from academic presses
   covering the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies,
  education, political science, gender studies, and many others. (All included articles are scholarly)
• JSTOR-- Online archives of over 125 journals in African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies,
  Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science,
  Population Studies, Sociology, and Statistics. JSTOR is designed specifically for archiving journals,
  so it does not include the most recent 2-5 years of each title. (All included articles are scholarly)

Step 4.  Find articles in Comprehensive Indexes with only some links to full-text.

• America: History & Life -- coverage of historical literature of the United States and Canada
  from prehistory to the present. 
• Historical Abstracts--historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the
  United States and Canada)

Step 5. You may need to search for some journal titles not llinked to citations

• Use PILOT (http://pilot.passhe.edu:8001/) to determine if a journal is available in our stacks or through
  one of our databases.

Step 6. Look for articles in old  Newspapers and Journals

• Historical New York Times -- full-text and full-image articles for from
  1851-2000 for The New York Times.
• Times Digital Archive  -- digital edition of The Times (London) 1785 - 1985 
  Historical Wall Street Journal -- full-text from 1889-1987.
• Humanities & Social Science Retrospective -- cites articles from English-language periodicals from
  1907 - 1984.
• American Periodicals Series Online -- digitized images of the pages of American magazines
   and journals published from colonial days to the dawn of the 20th century.
• Ethnic NewsWatch + ENW, A History -- 240+ publications of ethnic, minority and native presses
  provide access to other voices from 1960-present.

 Step 7. Look for Other Sources

• History Resource Center–includes primary sources including video clips, but also
  children curriculum .

 Step 8: Cite your Sources

• MLA Style Guide

• Easybib -- free online bibliography maker.
• Endnote  Bibliographic Management Software -- availalbe free to IUP students and faculty with
  valid I-card. More information at: http://www.iup.edu/ats/helpdesk/lib/enote.shtm .