Going about the Research (1 Viewer)

[Sphyx]

How is everyone conducting their research? i mean do you use sources off the internet? do you find them relevant to your topics? and if so, you are stating that their validity isnt all that great, right?

and with books, are you guys just reading extracts, or cover to cover? how do you go about selecting what you read and what you dont? i know the books i have sitting on my bedside table are pretty darn thick, and even though im really interesting in reading them, i cant see myself getting through them all.

also, do you ever use academic journals and such?

 

[veridis]

how many do you have?
i'm reading all my sources cover to cover. only takes about 3-4 hours and we have all year to do this.
as for web material i'll read all of it to develop my argument but wont analyse the source or use it in my actualy essay unless it comes from somewhere where i can source it in hard copy. eg some of my sources are 15th century chroniclers but people have posted their entire works online. so its like a "real" source that i found online rather than an online source

oh and yeah i'm using an academic journal but only cause i cant find a book that demonstrates the interdisciplinary approach

 

[ameh]

I'm going to the State library for research, and have borrowed a few books on my topic and am reading through, taking my time to formulate a questio...I can't seem to find much historiography on my topic!

 

[Sphyx]

how many do you have?
i'm reading all my sources cover to cover. only takes about 3-4 hours and we have all year to do this.

my topic is Che, so far i have 6 books that ive identified as relevant, and potentially others. one book is 800 pages long - it would take me more than 3-4 hours to read through that, while also making notes, formulating ideas, etc. also, i dont think we have an entire year to do it - i want to start doing drafts, while also keeping it within the word limit, etc.

i also dont think all of what i read applies to my question, but doesnt the fact that im selective about what i read mean that im going about it the wrong way? slightly confused at the moment.

 

[Plebeian]

No, I don't think selective reading is wrong - in fact, I'd say it's probably smarter. Don't forget your essay is only 2,500 words, 3,000 max. if your teacher is lenient. There is not a lot of room to fit in your material, certainly not enough to accommodate all the ideas in 6 books. If you have a clearer idea of what you're treating in your essay, it will flow better and you'll have time for deeper commentary ... there is no point in providing a brief overall summary of six books rather than an essay dealing with the topic.

Once I picked my topic, I had a look at introductions and conclusions to get an idea of the overall focus and the author's methodology- then picked a few sub-topics and read the relevant extracts from all my works on these sub-topics, ignoring the rest of the book.

I also only used Internet material to get a general background to the topic, because yes as you say, their reliability isn't all that great (I don't know if history distinguishes between reliability and validity in the same way that science does, but I'd say they are two different things btw). A few of my sources were also reproduced over the Internet, but they have also been published.

I didn't use any academic journals, although some of the Internet articles I read for background were from IHR, the Institute for Historical Review (ihr.org). Apart from books, though, I did use US Government publications - specifically, investigations into Pearl Harbor. This is partly why that idea of selective reading was the only viable way to conduct my topic, since many of these reports were very long ... one had around 40 volumes of testimony and evidence!

Overall:
-do background reading using whatever sources are most useful
-use the knowledge you get to narrow down your topic to a couple of specific issues that all your main historiographical (scholarly) sources deal with
-read the relevant parts of those sources
-compare and contrast their treatments in your essay, and explain possible reasons for the differences (ie. historical methodology / schools of historical thought),
-come to your own conclusion about which is the most likely as well.

Hope that helps

 

[Sphyx]

Thanks very much for that, Techie - its good to hear advice from someone who has already been through this.

Another quick question - you are actually supposed to come up with a personal opinion, a slant that you personally lean towards, rather than presenting the information in a simple compare and contrast manner, right?

 

[emo_chick]

Thanks very much for that, Techie - its good to hear advice from someone who has already been through this.

Another quick question - you are actually supposed to come up with a personal opinion, a slant that you personally lean towards, rather than presenting the information in a simple compare and contrast manner, right?

yep! personal opinion! but the entire essay isn't just based on your opinion. (i think you already know that )

 

[shelley]

Ok ill just through in my two cents though Techie really hit it on the nail

Once youve got an area of debate just selectivly research it (thats why they invented indexs) but dont limit urself, in terms of distinguishing context other modern books are great (really historians are kinda bitchy) and USE UNI LECTURERES email them, there nice and will reply. Some even offer one on one help.

Gnerally when resarching i merely turned to teh hapter that had my debate in it and just read that ignorin the rest of teh book. It simply not needed. No piont in wasting my team reading a whole lot of irelvant things. Unless teh whole book focus' on your topic which is RARE but hey coudl be remarkably useful.

Even online texts can be dody from what ud figure was a reliable source as a freind found out this year at uni (used a harvard uni translation of a doc we were using in ancient to find it was translated incorrectly). Look at them for some general ideas but use books more or journals.

Journals are your friend, esp if u use them as a bench mark and resrach if the histprians put out a more extensive work. Some can be accessed at www.library.usyd.edu.au

Id clear an entire day and do research, i did teh bulk of mine in two days at fisher library. Makes life easier then doin it one book at a time beacuse u can cross reference and follow ideas in one hit

Personally id suggest u find one big debate that gone on over a period (in my case portrayal of druids, another friend did "was pearl harbour known in aadvance", another did stonehenge "why was it built") and you can go from there a very strong focus will help you and make your essay more academic and consise

U MUST ACCOUNT FOR WHY THEY HAVE THIS OPINION, in teh words of my extension history teach "we dont want a history essay we want a historgaphy essay". It less about what there theories are and more about why they have them. This is quite fun and stands u in good stead for uni

look at past essays, mines on here and later ill post up some exempler essays that won prizes in previous years. These are a god send cos they give a very accurate idea when your writing how you should go about it. I did a source analysis of past exemplers and used that as a guideline to wirte my own

Oh and remeber footnbotes are you friend! if you odnt know how to wirte an essay go to www.usyd.edu.au, click faculties, arts, school of philosophy and histprical thought, departments, history, course resources and there a guide you can dl and print!

BEST OF LUCK

 

[wrong_turn]

where would you find UNI lecturers? like how would you get in touch with some of them?

 

[ameh]

i emailed one from usyd. hes overseas and wont be coming back anytime soon. so i might try anotehr uni

 

[Plebeian]

Another quick question - you are actually supposed to come up with a personal opinion, a slant that you personally lean towards, rather than presenting the information in a simple compare and contrast manner, right?

Yes, you should make some sort of judgement. My teacher said it is best that you don't just leave this until the conclusion, either - present it all the way through the essay, though you don't have to completely attack the opposing viewpoint.

where would you find UNI lecturers? like how would you get in touch with some of them?

There are usually contact details, along with the lecturer's areas of interest, given on university faculty webpages, eg:

Dept of Ancient History staff @ USyd Arts Faculty.
Dept of Gender Studies @ USyd Arts Faculty
Dept of Modern History Staff @ USyd Arts Faculty
European Studies Program @ USyd Arts Faculty

Otherwise, just browse around faculty pages (I got those links simply starting from http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au).

 

[shelley]

You just go to the uni web pages, best plaes for big name history lecturers are www.usyd.edu.au or www.mq.edu.au

from there you can read about there areas of interest (many have overlapping) and email them explaining who you are, what your doing and why you want there help. To get that far u click on faculties and then go to history (in the case of usyd you go faculties (little drop down box), arts, school of philosphy and historical analysis, department (either ancient, modern or both) and click on staff lists!

Goodluck!

 

[Plebeian]

You just go to the uni web pages, best plaes for big name history lecturers are www.usyd.edu.au or www.mq.edu.au

from there you can read about there areas of interest (many have overlapping) and email them explaining who you are, what your doing and why you want there help. To get that far u click on faculties and then go to history (in the case of usyd you go faculties (little drop down box), arts, school of philosphy and historical analysis, department (either ancient, modern or both) and click on staff lists!

Exactly... these staff lists are the pages I linked in my last post. :uhhuh:

 

[shelley]

yeah i saw those fater i posted lol and sorta though oops lol

but from memory the proceddures the same for mac...