HIST 301: The Historians Craft (Sheriff, Fall 2024)

1) Write out your topic

2) Identify key words

3) Identify synonyms

4) write out the search using Boolean

5) After your first search, revise terms

• Attitudes toward repeating rifles during the Civil War
  • "civil war" AND "repealing rivals"
    • AHL ; catalog ; worldcat
• Civil War engineering 
  • "civil war" AND (engineering OR engineers)
    • AHL ; catalog ; worldcat
• Women’s roles during the Civil War
  • women AND "civil war" AND (role* OR participation)
    • AHL ; catalog ; catalog ; worldcat
• Second burning of the Wren Building
  • "Wren Building" AND (fire OR destruction)
    Articles about WM in AHL
    books about WM History
    1859 AND "wren building" in JSTOR

• Caribbean-US relations during the Civil War 
  • (Caribbean OR "latin america") AND ("civil war" AND "united states")
    • catalog ; AHL ; worldcat.  suggest focusing on a specific country
• Formation of Midwestern regional identity
  • midwest* AND identity
    • AHL ; catalog ; worldcat
• Relationship between former enslaver and enslaved in post-CW era
  • ("former slaves" AND "masters") OR (freedman AND masters) OR ("former slaves" AND "former slaveholders") 
    • AHL; catalog; worldcat
• Sexuality in Early America (Evie)
  • (sexuality OR "Sex customs") AND ("early america" OR ("United states" AND "to 1775"))
    • ahl ; catalog ; worldcat
• Richmond Monuments and Confederate memory
  • richmond AND confed* AND (monument* OR memory)
    • ahl ; catalog ; worldcat
• Emergence of scientific racism and poor white/black relations
  • "Scientific racism"
    • ahl ;  catalog ; worldcat
• Indian Removal and the Trail of Tears
  • "trail of tears"
    • AHL; catalog ; worldcat
• Children in the Civil War 
  • children AND "civil war"
    • ahl ; narrow ahl ; catalog ; worldcat
• Introduction of the greenback
  • greenback*
    • AHL ; ahl; catalog; worldcat
    • see also  Paper money United States History 19th century
• Public opinion of the Declaration of Independence 
  • ("Public opinion" OR "public opinions" OR "public support" OR "public reaction") AND "Declaration of Independence"
    • ahl; catalog; worldcat

• Women and families during westward expansion 
  • women AND ("westward expansion" OR "Western expansion")
    • ahl ; catalog ; worldcat
• Maroon communities in the Great Dismal Swamp 
  • maroon* AND "dismal swamp"
    • ahl ; catalog ; (see also "free black people" AND "dismal swamp" ; see also "fugitive slave communities" AND "dismal swamp") ; worldcat
• US national identity during westward expansion
  • ("western expansion" OR "westward expansion" OR ("territorial expansion" AND west*)) AND (identity OR nationalism)
    • ahl ; catalog ; worldcat
• Occupied territory during the Civil War 
  • "civil war" AND "Military Occupation"
    • ahl ; catalog ; worldcat
• Material culture in early America or Russia
  • For Russian material culture, see my HIST 312 guide
  • (russia* OR soviet) AND history AND "material culture"
    • catalog ; worldcat ; Historical Abstracts
  • "material culture" AND ("Early america" OR "colonial america")
    • AHL; revised using filters ; catalog
• Immigrants soldiers during the Civil War
  • (immigrant*) AND "civil war" AND (soldier* OR enlist*)
    • AHL ; catalog; worldcat
• U.S. foreign relations during the Civil War
  • will need to focus on relations with specific country or efforts of specific diplomate
  • "civil war" AND "foreign relations"
    • AHL ; catalog ; worldcat
• Race relations in the 1950s (Lee) 
  •  "race relations" as subject, limited to 1950-1959 (not publication limit, limit to time period covered)
    • Very broad. look under subjects to help narrow topic. (region, state, urban/rural, etc)
  • United States -- Race relations -- History -- 20th century
  • "United States -- Race relations -- History"  AND 1950s
  • worldcat
• African American history post-emancipation
  • will need to narrow 
    • ("African americans" OR freedmen) AND "post emancipation"
    • ("African americans" OR freedmen) limited 1865-1870
    • books in catalog
    • Worldcat
• Landscapes of slavery in Virginia
  • ("Landscapes of slavery" OR "Landscape of slavery")
    • AHL ; catalog ; worldcat
    • possibly focus on plantations as spaces of slavery in Virginia
      • ahl ; catalog; worldcat
    • (plantations AND virginia AND history) AND landscape*
• Romania during the Ceaușescu (Cailyn)
  • Ceaușescu as subject in Historical abstracts and WorldCat (need to narrow, here are recent works)