The Information Literate Historian: Fundamentals of Historical Research and Scholarly Communication

The Impact and Scope of Historical Study

• History is an ever-present force that influences daily life. Unresolved issues and poorly resolved circumstances from the past generate turbulence, conflict, and unexpected opportunities for change in the modern world.
• Students of history are tasked with assessing past events and their subsequent effects on the lives of individuals and nations, both in the past and the present.
• The results of historical inquiry are typically presented through diverse formats, including research papers, oral presentations, posters, websites, exhibitions, and maker spaces.

The Framework of Historical Research

• Historical research requires the synthesis of ideas and evidence into a coherent argument.
• For example, researching the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent division and domination of the Middle East by European colonial powers in the late $18th$ and $19th$ centuries necessitates navigating a vast array of materials.
• Researchers must be able to present their own interpretations of events regardless of the medium, whether using digital materials from the Internet, oral testimonies, or physical documents.
• Effective historical work involves specific strategies for:
  • Locating, evaluating, and utilizing a wide variety of sources.
  • Developing and focusing on a central thesis.
  • Organizing research data.
  • Presenting material in a professional, convincing, and effective manner.

Structural Organization of the Information Literate Historian

• Historical training is categorized into three primary sections:
  • Part One: Basic Research (Chapters $1$ through $8$): This central and universal section covers the fundamental ways historians conduct research and how scholarly info is disseminated.
    • Chapter $1$: Methods of research and scholarly publishing.
    • Chapter $2$: Overview of reference resources for factual and background information.
    • Chapter $3$: Primer for general search techniques.
    • Chapter $4$ and $5$: Focused search techniques for books and journals.
    • Chapter $6$: Efficient usage of the Internet and navigating marginal vs. quality material.
    • Chapter $7$: Evaluation of sources, identification of quality research, and the history and identification of fake news and deep fakes.
    • Chapter $8$: Strategies for finding and using primary sources.
  • Part Two: Advanced Research Techniques for Primary Sources (Chapters $9$ through $12$): Focuses on specialized data types.
    • Chapter $9$: Digital maps and their importance in understanding historical context.
    • Chapter $10$: Media in historical research, including integration and evaluation techniques.
    • Chapter $11$: Building research questions using big data and digital history.
    • Chapter $12$: Use of statistics and data in historical inquiry.
  • Part Three: Presenting Your Research (Chapter $13$): Explores professional presentation methods, distinguishing between research papers, oral presentations, posters, slides, websites, exhibitions, and maker spaces.

The Communication of Scholarly Information

• Modern historical discourse is part of a tradition dating back to Herodotus, the Greek scholar credited as the Father of History.
• The research process is rooted in ongoing discourse and writing among scholars.
• Scholarly communication occurs through multiple channels:
  • Conferences: Presentation of research where scholars ask questions and discuss alternative interpretations.
  • Online Platforms: Informal exchanges on listservs and blogs.
  • Published Works: Formal written discussions in journal articles and books where authors cite the interpretations and secondary works of other historians.
• The Peer Review Process: Prior to publication, scholarly works are reviewed or refereed by expert scholars. These experts provide suggestions for improvement and ensure the material is responsible, accurate, viable, and reflects rigorous research. This process helps the author focus and express their thoughts more clearly.

Reasons for the Study of History

• Development of Thinking Skills: History teaches the ability to take disparate sources (artifacts, photographs, maps, census records, newspapers, and data) and synthesize them into a meaningful narrative. No other profession creates understanding from such varied evidence.
• Identity and Empathy: Studying history provides an understanding of personal and collective identity. It explains where communities and nations came from and how the past shaped modern life. Historian John Faye describes history as a "tour guide through foreign cultures."
• Preservation and Justice: History serves as a tool for preserving evidence. By logging evidence and bearing witness, history ensures that justice can be served for past events, even years after they occur.
• Societal Memory: Governments and societies often have short memories. Historical knowledge prevents the experiences of older generations from fading and helps populations live together in global communities.

Historical Methodology and Source Categorization

• Historians gather clues and evidence to determine the significance of persons, places, events, or time periods. They aim to understand the evolution of the human experience for both past and present contexts.
• Subjectivity and Perspective: Historical study is rarely unbiased. A historian's unique perspective—influenced by race, gender, class, and nationality—affects the questions they ask. Good historical questions often stem from personal curiosity and experience.
• Primary Sources: These are the direct evidence left behind by individuals, governments, and cultures. Examples include:
  • A soldier's letter home from a battlefield.
  • A newspaper advertisement for an enslaved person who ran away.
  • A map of a $12th$ century Chinese village.
  • Recorded interviews with Holocaust survivors.
  • A battle axe used in the Battle of Hastings.
• Secondary Sources: These are interpretations and arguments built by other historians using primary sources and existing scholarly work. Examples include:
  • Books such as Pride, Faith and Fear: Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Journal articles like The Body as Attire: The Shifting Meanings of Foot Binding in $17th$ Century China.
  • Internet sites like Wonders of the African World (associated with PBS).
  • Video series such as The Vietnam War by Ken Burns.
• Interdisciplinary Nature: Historians often employ skills from other fields, such as anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, and medicine (to understand medical terminology). They use different "lenses" or schools of philosophy to examine progress, decline, continuity, and change.

The Role of Librarians in Historical Inquiry

• Librarians are professionals who organize information and provide access to it. They typically hold advanced degrees such as a Master of Library and Information Science ($MLS$), Master of Information Science ($MIS$), or degrees in informatics.
• Technical and Administrative Roles: Some librarians organize information using systems like the Library of Congress classification (numbering and subject headings). Others develop database and computer systems to make indexes and library websites user-friendly.
• Subject Specialists: Also known as subject bibliographers, these librarians often have advanced degrees in the specific discipline they support. Their duties include:
  • Conducting reference interviews to help students clarify ideas and discover search terms.
  • Matching information needs with relevant databases and resources.
  • Creating subject-specific guides and teaching research classes.
  • Purchasing materials for the library collection.
• Rare Books and Manuscripts: Some librarians specialize in the history of books and the curation of manuscripts for large organizations or cities, such as the Disney Corporation Archives, the New York Public Library, or the Library of Congress.