II. FINDING SOURCES FOR ESSAY 8

Once you have found a compelling area of research, and an initial list of keywords, you can search for sources.  The Essay 8 prompt specifically outlines the number and type of sources you must use in your essay:            

                        * Primary Sources:
                            2-5 texts (print sources, visual images, etc.) that can be directly related to themes in the lectures or assigned readings of the course.

                         * Secondary Sources:
                            1 scholarly book (Optional but Recommended)
                            2-6 articles from scholarly journals (either from scholarly  journals found in the library, or from on-line journal collections available through the UCI Libraries)

Keep in mind that you will need to consult more sources than the number listed in order for you to present a strong, original THESIS.  Nevertheless, the prompt directs you to the different types of sources that are available to you: primary sources, scholarly books, scholarly articles available online, and articles found in scholarly print journals.

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I. PRIMARY SOURCES

Primary sources, according to Richard Laws in Chapter Seven of the Writer's Handbook, "can include novels, songs, movies, advertisements,  television programs, and even oral accounts along with the more traditional government records or legal documents." Such materials can be classified as primary documents for research if they are "produced by individuals or groups immediately associated with the historical period under analysis."

The assignment for Essay 8 allows you a great deal of flexibility in the type of primary sources you can examine.  It is possible, depending on your project, to independently collect and produce evidence such as interviews and photographs.

Still, there are a variety of primary sources -- interviews and memoirs, government publications, popular culture literature, images -- that you can locate through the resources provided by the UCI libraries. 

Here are some places to look for possible primary sources:


1. PRIMARY SOURCES AVAILABLE AT UCI

• “ESSAY 8: RESOURCES AVAILABLE AT THE UCI LIBRARIES” describes the various divisions of the Langson Library (such as the Media Resource Center [MRC], Reference and Government Information, and Special Collections and Archives) where you may find useful evidence for your paper.  Much of what is available in the Library can be found doing searches on Antpac, the UCI Libraries' online catalog. Discovery Task 6 provides many good tips on how to most effectively use Antpac.

• In particular, the Special Collections & Archives and the Southeast Asian Archive, both located in Langson Library, may contain valuable primary source materials for some Humanities Core Course students this quarter.  Finding aids for the primary source collections in the Southeast Asian Archive are indexed in the Online Archive of California (OAC).  See below for more information on the OAC.
  

 

• A popular way to start searching for sources is to use general search engines like Google.  More than likely, you will find some useful information, depending on your given topic.  Keep in mind, though, that "Googling" gives you a broad, largely unfiltered set of results -- many  of the sites listed may not be reliable, credible sources.  You will have to be especially careful in evaluating the sources you find using general search engines.  For detailed suggestions, review "How to Judge the Reliability of Internet Documents" in Writing from A to Z and "Chapter Twenty-Nine: Developing Electronic Research Strategies" in the Writer's Handbook, and read this page. 

• The UCI Libraries Subject Guides, linked to their homepage, provides detailed and thorough listings, arranged by subject, of "libraries, databases, e-journals, & Internet resources in that field."  Some of these sites include primary source material, or may provide links to other sites that do give information on how to find such documents.

• Another possible source of information on the Internet is the California Digital Library (CDL). Melvyl, the online catalog for all library holdings in the UC, is a part of the CDL.  The CDL collections also include the Online Archive of California (OAC), which "federates collections of digital materials (such as manuscripts, photographs, and art) held in the libraries, museums, and archives across California through a searchable database."  You can search the OAC's website for printed documents and images available online; also listed are finding aids to collections available at the UC's.  For UCI, materials available at the Southeast Asian Archive are indexed.
  

• The UCI Libraries Homepage contains links to many specialized databases that will help you find magazine and newspaper articles about your topic.

• Magazine Articles
• To locate recent articles in popular periodicals, a useful index is the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (available in the Reference section on the 1st floor of the Main Library, Call No. AI 3 R4).  
  
• For those who are researching historical topics, or who want to look at the historical background of their topics , a valuable periodical index is the Reader's Guide Retrospective (available to UCI students through the Libraries' Online Resources page).  Reader's Guide Retrospective is an online version of the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. The Reader's Guide Retrospective covers 512 leading U.S. magazines from the years 1890 to 1982, so you may find primary source articles using this database.
• PCI: Periodicals Contents Index is another resource, similar to Reader's Guide Retrospective, that provides electronic access to articles covering a wide time range.  PCI covers many titles back to the time they began publication.
• If you find an article you would like, click on the button to see if the UCI Libraries carry the periodical, as well as the specific year of the periodical that includes the article you want.  (You can also go to Antpac and do the search yourself.)  If UCI does not carry the periodical, the eLinks feature will also show you if (though Melvyl) to if any other UC campuses subscribe to it; if so, you can use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to request a copy of the magazine article.  (For more about Melvyl and ILL, see the Essay 8: Further Tips and Suggestions.)

• Newspaper Articles
• Regional newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register are available online.  You can search for articles from these newspapers, then print out or save / send to yourself the articles.  For national coverage, the New York Times from 1857-1999 and Wall Street Journal from 1889-1985 are available online. 
• Go to the UCI Libraries' News and Newspapers page for links to these webpages, as well as other various news and newspaper sources.

• (Important note: These internet resources will only work if you are connected to a UCI campus network computer.  For instructions on how to connect from off-campus, click here.)

The Writer's Handbook states that secondary sources are "retrospective interpretations of the past.  They both follow the event and analyze it.  In short, they are the fruits of historical labor, the books and articles that scholars produce after evaluating the primary sources." In other words, the authors of these secondary sources develop an argument about the meaning of their primary sources -- just as you will in your research paper.

In order to join in on the intellectual conversation about your topic, and to establish your ethos as an authoritative voice, you need to find current, relevant scholarly secondary sources.  Here are a few places to start looking:

  1. SCHOLARLY BOOKS

• Scholarly books are important sources to consult, for a variety of reasons.  One major reason is that books provide the most in-depth studies of your subject.  Another good reason is that  most scholarly monographs contain footnotes or endnotes and a detailed bibliography of sources that the author has consulted.  You can use the notes and bibliography to find additional sources that may be useful to you.

• “ESSAY 8: RESOURCES AVAILABLE AT THE UCI LIBRARIES” includes a partial list of scholarly books, arranged by subject area, that are available in the Libraries Stacks and Reserves.  Keep in mind that this is not a complete list.  

• Review Discovery Task 6 for directions on how to use Antpac in order to find additional books on your subject, using such features as the SUBJECT HEADINGS that will lead you to other sources related to your topic.

• NOTE: Some books are available in full-text online editions.  For example, Kling/Olin/Poster's Postsuburban California can be accessed on the web by UCI students.  Antpac records will provide a link to an electronic edition of a book if it exists; if you have a specific book citation, you can use the  to see if there is an online version available.
  

   

• Although scholarly journals are appearing more frequently online, some of the best, most up-to-date scholarly writing on your subject will still be available only in print copies.  

• The UCI Libraries' Online Research page provides information on how to search for such print journal articles online.

• A particularly useful feature is "24 Databases to get you started," which conveniently provides links to popular databases.

• For the purposes of this essay, three of the more useful places to search for journal articles are: 

• America: History and Life  
• Web of Science (which you used in Discovery Task 6; it covers the Arts & Humanities, Science, and Social Science Citation Indices) 
• Expanded Academic Index ASAP (a more general database, but still useful to consult) 

• Use the keywords and subject headings that you have generated so far to search for articles using these online databases.

• When you find a citation, you can use the  function (described in Discovery Task 6 and mentioned earlier on this page) to check the status of the journal in which the article appears.  You can use eLinks to see if UCI carries the specific issue of the journal you need.  If so, you can go to the Langson Library to read and / or photocopy the article; if not, you can use Melvyl to see if any other UC campuses carry it, then request a copy of the magazine article through Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

   3. SCHOLARLY JOURNALS AVAILABLE ONLINE

• Finally, all that work you did on the Discovery Tasks this year will be put to use!  You can now use the skills you developed using JSTOR and Project Muse to find sources using those online collections. 

• Increasingly, scholarly journals are appearing in both print and online versions, and the UCI Libraries subscribe to many full-text online journals.  Using  , you can see if an online version of a scholarly journal is available for use by UCI students.  Antpac also indicates if a web version of a journal exists and is available.  If you have a specific article citation, you can use the  to find out if the article can be accessed on the web.     
  

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