HIS-270 The Historian's Craft: Home

Click HERE to open the padlet in a new window so you can see all five research stations. 

Research tools for this class:

(scholarly articles, ebooks)

(scholarly articles, ebooks, news)

(scholarly articles, ebooks)

(New York Times Historical Access from 1851 to 2018)

 (Journal of Newport History, accessible on campus only)

Library book catalog: 

Other useful sources:

The Boston Globe

 also known as America's News (newspaper articles from all over the US, mostly 1978-present)

(colonial-era newspaper articles)

1 – Choose a Topic You Care About

• Select something you genuinely want to learn more about.
• Try to find a balance between topics that are too broad (“climate change”) or too narrow (“climate change impact on bee populations in Newport, RI, on July 14, 2020”).
• If nothing comes to mind, review your syllabus for broad topic ideas
• Carefully read your assignment for guidance and parameters

2 – Gather Credible Background Information

• If you use Google to start your search, identify words and phrases people use to describe your topic. Then:
• Use those words and phrases to search library search tools such as:
  • Gale subject encyclopedias for short but meaty overviews of topics ranging from history to religion to science and technology  
  • Points of View Reference Source for overviews of controversial issues
• Identify:
  • Important terms and concepts
  • Major debates or controversies
  • Influential scholars or organizations

3 – Narrow the Focus 

• Choose research tools appropriate to your question and assignment requirements
• Review results to see how people have already written about your topic (ask a librarian if you're having trouble finding relevant results)
• While researching, try using database limiters and search words to limit your topic by:
  • Time period (e.g., “post-2000”)
  • Place (e.g., “in urban areas of the U.S.”)
  • Population (e.g., “among college students”)
  • Aspect (e.g., “mental health impacts”)
• Try asking “Who, What, Where, When, Why” to generate possible angles.

4 – Turn the Focused Topic into an Open-Ended Question

• Ask “how” or “why” rather than “what” or “is.”
  • Example: Instead of “What is climate change?” → “How have U.S. urban farming initiatives adapted to climate change since 2010?”
• Check that your question:
  • Is complex enough to require you to think critically and synthesize information from several sources
  • Can’t be answered with a simple yes/no

5 – Evaluate and Refine

• Evaluate your revised research question. Ask yourself, is your question:
  • Focused: Identifies a specific narrow issue and is expressed concisely, in the fewest possible words.
  • Researchable: You've identified sources that give you a clear picture of the background, controversies, and evidence to help you identify and support a position.  
  • Arguable: Your question's potential answers aren't settled facts, they're open to debate. 
  • Complex: Not answerable with a yes or no, but requires you to synthesize sources, identify and evaluate arguments and concepts, and think critically to develop your own answers.
  • Relevant: Relates to a your field of study or a societal issue that's important to you

Expect to revise your question after initial searching—this is a normal, valuable part of research.

AI Transparency Statement: Librarian Dawn Emsellem used ChatGPT in developing these steps, also consulting the approaches of other university libraries, writing centers, and student support websites while revising them. Some aspects of ChatGPT's answer were wholly retained. See the prompt.  

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