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HIST 150: Gandhi in the World (Fall 2025)
Using Primary Source Databases
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HIST 150: Gandhi in the World (Fall 2025)
Introduction
Comparing Sources
In This Session (9/11/25)
Overview of Library Services & Resources
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How do we have so many Resources?
Libraries Undergraduate Library Research Awards
Secondary Sources
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What makes a Secondary Source "good"
Primary Sources
Primary Vs. Secondary
Reference/Tertiary Sources (starting points)
Boolean (AND OR NOT)
Finding Secondary Sources: Articles
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Why Specialized databases matter
Finding Secondary Sources: Books
How to order books/articles/DVDs we don't own?
Primary Source Databases
Using Primary Source Databases
Archives Online
Citation
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Zotero
Annotated Bibliographies
Stuck or need help? No problem!
Wrap Up
Tips
Select databases based on the types of resources you need.
Newspapers? use newspaper databases
Letters? look for compiled published volumes in the catalog.
Personal papers and publications? Look in the catalog and worldcat
Government materials? Look at scanned government records databases
Keep it simple!
only use a few keywords at a time.
EX Gandi AND education
Let the databases do the work
use limiters to limit to specific time periods, limit by content, etc.
Consider language being used at the time
terms change over time, so a 21st century term won't be used in the early 20th century.
Start with Secondary sources -- they will tell you which keywords to use, where to look for sources, etc
Examples
Topic: Gandhi's Basic Education proposal.
Keywords: Gandhi AND "Basic Education"
Gandhi AND Education in PRIMO pre 1948
Writings by Gandhi in PRIMO about Education
Gandhi AND "Basic Education" in Times of India
Gandhi AND "Basic Education" in ALL ProQuest limited to pre 1948
Gandhi AND "Basic Education" in googlebook before 1945
Gandhi and "Basic Education" in HathiTrust before 1945
Gandhi and Education in all EBSCO pre 1948
Search in Worldcat for au:(Mahatma AND Gandhi) AND su:education
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