HSTS 415: Theory of Evolution and Foundation of Modern Biology

Contact Me

Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Instruction & Public Services
Valley Library-Third Floor
(541) 737-7387
tiah.edmunson-morton@oregonstate.edu

Related Guides

RSS Feed

Bookmark This

Course Instructor

Prof. Osborne

Primary Sources: What are they?

Primary sources are the raw materials of history, providing a window into the past and unfiltered access to the historical record. They are the first-hand accounts, in a range of formats, which were produced by people who lived during that period. In an archive of primary source materials, you’ll find a record of the cultural, social, economic, political, and scientific inquiries of the time.

For a more detailed explanation of the variety of different types of formats, visit the “Primary Sources at Yale” page.

These records give you access to unique items that are often profoundly personal in nature that can serve as powerful tools to give you a realistic sense of what it was like to be alive in an earlier time. The letters, pictures, memoirs, and records of everyday life tell us something about the past that even the best-written article or book cannot convey.When you use primary sources in your research, you can also develop skills for understanding how the larger historical context informed peoples’ actions or decisions, but also how to read the subtext of cultural assumptions and ambiguities.In short, using primary sources in history transcends the role of just learning facts and figures. It encourages critical thinking skills; introducing you to issues of context, selection, and bias; to the nature of collective memory and to other like aspects in the construction of history. It allows you use the traces of the past to construct meaningful stories in the present.

Secondary Sources: What are they?

Secondary sources help build your background knowledge about your topic. They are used to interpret primary sources, so you can think of them as report that is at least one step removed from the event or issue you are studying. In this sense, secondary sources are like second-hand accounts…

If I tell you something, then I am the primary source.
If you tell someone else what I told you, then you are the secondary source.

How do you use them? You can use secondary sources to interpret, analyze, describe, explain, or draw conclusions about the events or issues detailed in primary sources. Usually, you’ll find secondary sources in the form published works like articles found in scholarly journals that evaluate or criticize someone else's original research, books, biographies, book or movie reviews, encyclopedias, or popular magazines, but they may take the form of a documentary or conference proceedings.How do you find them? Use the library catalog or databases to find secondary source books and articles.

Primary Sources

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has several collections:

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online includes digitized copies of his work.

Because this collection is in OSU Libraries Special Collections, check out the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers, which includes The Race for DNA.

The Library of Congress online collection, The American Memory Project, includes some digitized works by & about Darwin & Watson. Try keyword searches such as: "Charles Darwin" or evolution.

Northwest Digital Archives

The Northwest Digital Archives (NWDA) is a searchable database of archives in the northwest. Some materials are digitized. Most results will be finding aids, that is, detailed descriptions of the collections held by the archives.

Search by subject, by the type of material you're looking for, or by the "repository" or institution you want to visit.

Historical Newspapers

Here is a list of newspapers, historical and current, on microfilm at Valley Library.

Search these full-text databases for historical news:

American Periodicals Series a database of magazines and newspapers from 1740-1900. This unique and valuable collection contains digitized images of the pages of American magazines and journals that originated between 1741-1900, when Andrew Bradford's American Magazine and Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine were launched. Deriving from the acclaimed American Periodicals Series microform collection, APS Online features over 1,100 periodicals spanning nearly 200 years-from colonial times to the advent of American involvement in World War II. Titles range from America's first scientific journal, Medical Repository, to popular magazines like Vanity Fair and Ladies' Home Journal.

America's Historical Newspapers a database of newspapers from 1690-1876. Also known as Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876. This historical collection contains hundreds of historic newspapers listed in Clarence Brigham's authoritative bibliography and in additional subsequent bibliographies.

Here is a list of historical Oregon newspapers in microfilm on the 3rd floor of The Valley Library.

For locating historical citations from newspapers, you can try Google News Archive. After identifying citations, check if OSU Libraries holds the newspaper and if we don't, request it from interlibrary loan.

Photo courtesy of Pingu1963.

Historical Oregon Newspapers

Here is a list of historical Oregon newspapers in microfilm on the 3rd floor of The Valley Library.

Current Newspaper Articles

EthnicNewsWatch, 1959-1989: ENW features newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives.

Lexis Nexis Academic Full-text to hundreds of national and international newspapers, some from 1980's-present. For the full-text of The Oregonian, 1987-present, choose News and checkmark The Oregonian as a Source. Tutorial.

Oregon Index Citations to Oregon newspapers, 1975-present.

PressDisplay Full-text to international and some U.S. newspapers, last 60 days.

newspapers

Check out Cornell University Library's 2-minute video "Research Minutes: How to Identify Substantive News Articles."

Photo by Trois Têtes

Finding Books

Use these catalogs to find books at OSU & elsewhere:

OSU Libraries Catalog: search for books located at Valley library and OSU's other libraries.Click Try Summit Libraries to check if libraries in Oregon/Washington have your book or others on your topic.

Summit/WorldCat Catalog: searches Oregon/Washington libraries and, libraries throughout the world. Summit books take 3-5 business days to get to OSU. If Summit doesn't have it, we'll find a library that does-just click the Request from Interlibrary Loan button. Tip! If OSU has the item it will show.

Tip! By using the catalogs' date limits in the advanced search, you may uncover primary sources.

Google Books: Use the advanced search and limit by publication date, full view and public domain to find primary sources.

Find Scholarly Journal Articles

In general, start your searching with just one or two keywords. Add more as needed.
Be sure to try your topic in more than one database.
Read citations and abstracts to get ideas of different keywords to represent your topic.
If the full text of the article, is not available, click 360 Link to Full Text to check if OSU subscribes to the journal.

America: History and Life
Scholarly citations and articles covering world history. Type chem* to find the words chemist and chemical. Use quotes, "Linus Pauling", so the terms are searched as a phrase. Can limit by language (recommended). Can limit by Historical Period.
Coverage Dates: 1964 -
Historical Abstracts
Scholarly citations and articles covering world history. Type chem* to find the words chemist and chemical. Use quotes, "Linus Pauling", so the terms are searched as a phrase. Can limit by language (recommended). Can limit by Historical Period.
Coverage Dates: 1955 - present
JSTOR
A multi-disciplinary archival collection of full-text scholarly journal articles. Type chem* to find the words chemist and chemical. Use quotes, "whooping cough", so the terms are searched as a phrase. Under the advanced search, check mark articles to limit to scholarly articles.
Coverage Dates: - Varies by Journal
Project Muse
Interdisciplinary collection of full-text, peer reviewed journals. Type chem* to find the words chemist and chemical. Use quotes, "Linus Pauling", so the terms are searched as a phrase. Use parentheses to search for multiple concepts ("biological sciences" or "physical sciences") and history. Use the limit to articles on the Advanced Article Search page.
Coverage Dates: - Varies by journal
Google Scholar
Google Scholar searches a variety of academic publishers. Some articles are available in full-text. If the full-text is not available check OSU Libraries Catalog for print. If not available, request it from InterLibrary Loan. Use quotes, "Linus Pauling", so the terms are searched as a phrase.
Coverage Dates: coverage range - unknown
Academic Search Premier
A multi-disciplinary database indexing citations and full-text scholarly and non-scholarly articles. Click Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals to limit your search. Type chem* to find the words chemist and chemical. Use quotes, "Linus Pauling", so terms are searched as a phrase.
Coverage Dates: 1975 - present

Biographical information about scientists

Browse these biographical encyclopedias & dictionaries:

Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography Online. Covers all periods of science from classical antiquity to modern times. Use the index and search a term such as Biologist or Naturalist. Check out the print version, Dictionary of Scientific Biography Q141 .D5, in Valley Library. Some years are shelved in compact and some in storage.
American Men and Women of Science: the physical and biological sciences Valley Compact Shelves Q141 .C2
American Men and Women of Science: the social and behavioral sciences Storage Q141 .C21

Go here for more titles specific to History of Science or browse the Q140 section of the library.

Browse these pages and try these ideas:

Writing & Citing Resources

OSU's Writing Center Make an appointment or review their online help.

APA Guides:

OSU Libraries links to several style and citation guides.

Cite U Like: manage your citations
Slate Citation Machine: style information

Plagiarism? It's Your Call: website with examples of how to cite correctly. From Western Michigan University's online tutorial SearchPath, "learn to find and critically evaluate information sources."

Library Session Powerpoint

Here is a copy of the slides used in the library session.

HSTSjournals
HSTS_415H.pptx
Library session presentation

Evaluation of Library Session

Got a minute? Please offer feedback on the library session:

Student Evaluation

Faculty Evaluation

Last Update: January 12, 2012 08:32 | Tagged with: History of Science History Charles Darwin evolution