810.624 Special Topics in Secondary Education: Social Studies 810.614 Methods of Teaching in Secondary Social Studies This page provides library information and resources useful to students enrolled in these courses during spring 2008.

I. Topic analysis, search strategy, search terms

Identifying and refining a research topic

Identifying relevant information sources

Brainstorming search terms

Constructing effective searches using operators ("and," "or," "not")

II. Finding secondary sources: articles

Below are selected databases that index articles, as well as other types of publications, in fields such as history, economics, political science, and other social studies areas.  Click the brown FindIt button to see if we have an article at JHU.

America: History and Life   (All JHU (incl. International))

Historical Abstracts   (All US JHU)

EconLit with Full Text  (All US JHU)

PAIS International  (All US JHU)

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts  (All US JHU)

Social sciences full text (also part of OmniFile full text mega)  (All US JHU)

Find more databases by subject

III. Finding secondary sources: books

Access to books and other full-length materials (i.e., not articles) owned by the JHU Libraries. What to do if you need something we don't own.

IV. Finding primary sources

Finding historical primary sources

Finding maps

Finding statistics

V. Citing sources

APA format and lots more. Try RefWorks!

VII. Teaching with sources

NASA for Educators
Open Vault: WGBH Media Library and Archives
PBS Teacher: Resources for the Classroom
National Archives for Educators and Students

VII. Other useful links

• JHU Libraries research guides: Introduction to finding sources in the JHU Libraries and beyond.
  • Earth Sciences, Ecology, & Environmental Studies Research Guide (includes geography)
  • Economics Research Guide
  • History Research Guide 
  • Political Science Research Guide
  • Sociology Research Guide 
  • Primary Sources Research Guide 
• Using Primary Sources on the Web. History Section, Reference and User Services Association, American Library Association. 
• How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography. Cornell University Library.

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