History 21

Players and Spectators: History, Culture and Sports

Professor: Susan Tananbaum Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft Fall 2004	Image from www.PDImages.com	Library Catalog Reference Books Indexes and Databases Primary Sources Web Sites Research Tips Citation
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The purpose of this guide is to help you locate the library's information resources most useful for research in this class. The reference librarians at the library will be glad to assist with specific questions. You may also consult Ginny Hopcroft by phone x3298 or via email at ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu.

Library Catalog

The electronic library catalog is the primary access point for the collections of the Bowdoin College Libraries in all formats. Specialized indexes and finding aids are available for the uncatalogued portions of Special Collections and Government Documents.

You can begin your research in the Bowdoin Library Catalog with either a keyword search (under heading "word") or a subject search. In subject searching the best search results are obtained by use of the standardized controlled vocabulary found in the Library of Congress Subject Headings books. When you obtain good results from either search, follow the subject headings links listed to find more books.

Subject Heading Examples:

Reference Books

Encyclopedia of American Social History
Main Ref; HN57 .E58 1993

Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000
Main Ref; HN373 .E63 2001

Encyclopedia of North American sports history
Main Ref; GV567 .H518 2002

Encyclopedia of women and sports
Main Ref; GV709 .S44 1996

Encyclopedia of world sport : from ancient times to the present
Main Ref; GV567 .E56 1996

International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences
Main Libr; H41 .I58 2001

Sports ethics : a reference handbook
Main Ref; GV706.3 .B47 1994

American women in sport, 1887-1987 : a 100-year chronology
Main Ref; GV583 .A64 1989

Indexes and Databases

Some of these databases are strictly bibliographic indexes; that is, they provide citation only. Others contain the full text of journal articles for their indexed publications. To find whether Bowdoin Library provides access to an individual journal, either use the "Check Availability @ Bowdoin" link in the database or type the journal name into the Library Catalog under "Find Journals."

Academic Search Premier Indexes & Databases: Academic Search Premier indexes over 1800 peer reviewed journals in the social sciences, humanities and science, as well as general interest magazines and several important American newspapers. Date coverage varies between periodicals some as far back as 1980; about 60% of the articles are in full text.
America History and Life Indexes & Databases: This scholarly bibliographic source indexes articles, books and dissertations about the history of the United States and Canada published throughout the world. It is a subject index with citations and abstracts. Coverage is 1964 to present.
Arts and Humanities Search Indexes & Databases: Arts and Humanities indexes the contents of scholarly periodicals and books in the arts and humanities, published from 1980 to the present. The scope is international.
Comtemporary Women's Issues Indexes & Databases: This full-text database of articles from periodicals, newsletters and research reports began in 1972 and continues to the present. It is international in scope.
Ethnic Newswatch Indexes & Databases: Presented in both English and Spanish, this full-text database collects articles from ethnic and minority newspapers and periodicals in the United States. Articles included go back to 1985.
History Journals in the J-Stor Electronic Journal Service Indexes & Databases: The J-Stor service makes available fulltext articles from selected scholarly journals. All articles from all years of the journal are reproduced, except for the most recent five years. When you go to the J-Stor screen, click the SEARCH button to access a search screen and to choose your subject grouping of journals to search.
LexisNexis Academic Indexes & Databases: Academic Universe is a full text web database of news and legal information. This database provides access to both current news and up to 20 years of retrospective news, both domestic and international. Under the News heading you search separate files for the most current news, World news, U.S. news, etc., so it is useful for both U.S. and European news.
Periodical Contents Index Indexes & Databases: This bibliographic index provides online indexing to nearly 2400 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, published from 1770 to 1990. The index presently has 9 million entries and continues to add more. It provides bibliographic access to many of the Library's 19th and early 20th century journals.
Poole's Index Main Per Index: Poole's Index is a print bibliographic index to British and American periodicals of the nineteenth century. This index provides excellent subject access to periodical articles of the nineteenth century, significant primary source material for this course. Bowdoin Library owns many of these nineteenth century periodicals in its collections.
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) Indexes & Databases Main Per Index: PAIS includes "publications on all subjects that bear on contemporary public issues and the making and evaluation of public policy, irrespective of source or traditional disciplinary boundaries." Sources may be periodical articles, books, government documents or the reports of public and private organizations in the U.S. and internationally. The electronic version covers articles from 1972 to the present; the print index, from 1901 to 1977
Reader's Guide Indexes & Databases (Retrospective: 1890-1982) Main Per Index: The Reader's Guide is an easy-to-use author/subject index to a broad range of U.S. general interest magazines and journals. A special value of the Reader's Guide for this class is its historical coverage. It begins in 1895 and continues through the present, providing access to many of the early twentieth century journals held in the Library's collections.
Sociofile Indexes & Databases: This scholarly index for books and journal articles in the field of sociology is international in scope, providing access to 1800 journals published worldwide from 1974 to the present.

Primary Sources

For information on primary sources, please read the CBB Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources.

New York Times, 1853-present Indexes & Databases Main Micro: Microfilm of all issues of this national newspaper since 1853.
The Times (London) Main Micro
Making of America: Digital Library of Primary Sources: A collection of full-text documents from the 19th century. http://www.umdl.umich.edu/moa

Also, locate journal articles of the 19th and early 20th centuries through older indexes: see Poole's Index and the Reader's Guide in the Indexes and Databases section.

Web Sites

The web plays a major role in information delivery, but since no process exists for establishing authenticity for web sites, it's wise to approach them critically. Please look at the CBB guide " Evaluating Web Sources" for suggestions on assessing information validity.

American Memory-Historical Collections for the American Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amhome.html

Scholarly Sports Sites from the University of Calgary
http://ucalgary.ca/library/ssportsite/

Negro Baseball Leagues
http://www.blackbaseball.com/

Women's Sports Foundation
http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/

Empowering Women in Sports
http://www.feminist.org/research/sports2.html

Sportsjones
http://www.sportsjones.com/sj/categories/women.shtml

Research Tips

The Getting Started page gives a good overview of the process of library research. Below are some tips for effective historical research:

When you find a relevant book or article in an electronic database, check the subject headings in the catalog record, or the descriptors if the citation is from an index, to find additional search terms.

Use both subject and keyword searching in any electronic database, including the library catalog. Because different parts of the bibliographic record are searched, you will receive different results.

Proceed from secondary sources to primary sources. Gain background on your time period, issues, key persons, etc. before starting the more complex process of identifying primary documents. For more information on primary sources, please read the CBB Guide to Primary and Secondary Sources.

Check for footnotes and bibliographies in secondary sources. They will often lead you to other relevant secondary sources and authors, as well as primary sources.

Browse the library shelves in your subject area.

Citation

It is important to document sources accurately and in correct format. Here are some links and books providing guidelines for proper citation:

Style Manuals
http://library.bowdoin.edu/eref/write.shtml

The Chicago Manual of Style
Main Libr Reserve 130a

MLA handbook for writers of research papers / Joseph Gibaldi
Main Libr Reserve 135