Strategies for finding place-based & community information:
Consider who has had stakes in creating, holding, preserving, making info accessible. Try multiple ways into the same repository. Indexing can vary. Build OR statements based on what you find. Use available facets to surface formats you need. Search within key sources - ctrl/cmd+f, other tools Nanaimo Free Press [Thursday, May 23, 1895] |
from: Thom, B. (2005). Coast Salish senses of place... |
- from Hul'qumi'num' Words: An English-to-Hul'qumi'num' and Hul'qumi'num'-to-English Dictionary. Prepared for the Chemainus, Nanaimo, and Nanoose First Nations and Nanaimo School District No. 68, December, 1997. |
What qualifies as a "primary" source?
creators/sources
considerations
examples & issues
"Fresh Columbia Salmon, British Columbia Packing Co.; Indian Brand "; from MS I/BA/C67.1
Missionary and settler sources
Indigenous sources
Problems & strategies
Exploring the dimensions of the topic
Identify key words and concepts.
Note and use relationships among concepts: broader, narrower, related; synonyms, orthographies, changes in language and usage over time.
e.g.:
Coast Salish, Hulquminum, Hul'qumi'num, Chemainus, Stz'uminus, Shts'um'inus...
("salmon canning" OR "salmon cannery" OR "salmon canneries" OR "fish cannery" OR "fish canneries")
Note questions that arise as you go.
Consider keeping a journal for your project.
Where to look for scholarly, secondary sources depends on the nature and scope of your topic
Tracing the scholarly conversation
One useful work may help to locate other useful primary and secondary sources:
Look at references (footnotes, endnotes, bibliography) to trace the sources the author used.
Use Google Scholar "cited by" or LibrarySearch "cited by these articles" to find more recent works that mention an interesting work that you've found.
Selected resources for Chicago Style