OUTSIDE THE U OF M

History Day in Minnesota

2008 Theme pdf

JUST IN CASE... Goldy

If you have arrived on campus and haven't had a chance to prepare in advance, use our handy Quick Steps (pdf). You can also use the buttons (Catalog, Subjects, Biography) on the University Library's History Day home page.

PREPARE FOR YOUR VISIT IN ADVANCE:

You can make the most of your time here if you can begin your research on a computer at home or at your school. Our History Day home page describes the basic steps you'll likely want to follow.

You can search MNCAT from any computer with Internet access; use it to discover what books we own on your topic.

Does your topic require research in other subjects in addition to history? Type the broad subject into which library to see which library on campus covers that field (e.g. Medicine, Law, Music, etc.)

check the HOURS,

take a tutorial to guide your research process.

Visit the BOOKS section of our History Day research web site.

Think about your topic in advance:

Read enough about the topic so you have a basic understanding of the historical context and major issues.

List several words or phrases connected with your topic, including subject, important people, events and places. Use these words and phrases in your online searches.

Think about the types of publications that might be helpful-- newspapers, secondary sources, diaries, census data, photographs, recorded interviews, government or legal documents, company records, etc.

Think about which research tools will help you find the information you need. For starters, what library catalogs for books and article databases might be the most useful, what libraries will have the type of information you need. Also, your teacher and the librarians can help you look at the options in these two links and decide which are best.

Different types of publications are indexed in different ways (article indexes, book catalogs, archive collection finding aids, picture databases, etc.) and housed differently in various campus libraries. Some useful databases are described and listed in the sections dealing with finding primary sources and secondary sources. A lock icon ( ) means you must either search from a campus library or authenticate yourself as a University of Minnesota-Twin Cities affiliated user to access the resource from off-campus. All other resources (without this icon) are publicly available on the Internet. Although this can seem complicated remember that teachers, librarians, parents and History Day staff can help.

GOING DEEPER

Use the sections in the left sidebar (Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Finding Articles, etc.)
To view library resources recommended to U of M undergraduates who are beginning history research at the U, visit the CourseLib page for Hist3959 "How to Do History" course.

TEACHERS

For additional information on planning a class visit, contact:
the History Day Hot Line:
By Telephone: 612/625-6416
Or by e-mail: histday@hist.umn.edu
The History Day Program Assistant at the University of Minnesota is available to answer questions from students, teachers and parents getting ready for History Day. The History Day Hotline is also your gateway to the resources of the University of Minnesota.

Are you working on projects other than one for History Day ? General Information about school visits is also available at For High School Teachers who want to bring their Class to Wilson for non-History Day research.

URL: http://wilson.lib.umn.edu//historyday/begin.html

Page Coordinator: Susan Gangl