Your Name

Your Name History 50 Fall 2003

Name of Your Person _____________________________________________ ASSIGNMENT ONE

LOCATING BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

ASSIGNMENT ONE - PART I: THE AMERICAN NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY (ANB)

1. Locate the American National Biography. You can use the online version:

Go to http://www.sjlibrary.org . From the Library homepage, click on "Articles & Databases" on the left menu. When the next screen appears, select "A-Z titles" and scroll down to American National Biography. When you get to the main screen, click on the question mark (?) for instructions on how to enter your person's name. If you prefer to use the printed volumes find call number (CT 213 .A68 1998) on the second floor in King Library Reference Books. If your person is not listed in the ANB, use Notable

American Women (CT 3260 N57), which is also in the Reference section, second floor, King Library.

2. Photocopy/print the first and last page of the biography and attach the photocopy/print to this page when you turn in the assignment.

3. Read the biography and briefly describe your person's most important contributions to the Progressive
Era:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Examine the bibliography at the end of the biographical summary. List the two titles you think would

be most useful [if fewer than two are included, list all of the titles]. After listing the titles, search the

Library Catalog. For each title, if you find the title in the Catalog, write the location and call number
below the title. If you believe the Library does not own that title, check "NOT in Catalog" below the title.

(1)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________ or check NOT in Catalog ________

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(2)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________ or check NOT in Catalog ________

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5. Consult the bibliography at the end of the biographical summary again.

Would any of the materials listed be considered primary source materials? _____YES _____NO

If you checked yes, please list all titles that you would consider as primary source materials:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT ONE - PART II. USING THE ONLINE CATALOG TO FIND BOOKS ABOUT PEOPLE

I. Use the Library Catalog [http://www.sjlibrary.org] and select Library Catalog from left menu on the home page. Look up the person as a subject. At the main menu of the Catalog, select:

Subject

Type the name of the person (with the surname first), for example:

Sinclair, Upton

2. How many titles did you find? ____________________

[Hint: number of entries found]

3. Use the guide sheet called "Cite Your Sources," and for three titles, write down the information on
author, title, place of publication, publisher, and date that you will need to include the work in a
bibliography. Also write down the location and call number. If you find fewer than three titles, write
down all that you find.

(1)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________

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(2)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________

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(3)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________

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4. Now look up the person as a word in the online catalog by selecting:

Keyword

Type the name of the person, for example

Upton Sinclair

5. How many titles did you find? ______________

6. Compare your results from the Keyword with the results from your search by Subject.

Did you get the same number of titles? _____YES _____NO

If not, how do you explain the difference in the number of titles retrieved by the KEYWORD search and the SUBJECT search?

ASSIGNMENT ONE - PART III. LOCATING AND EXAMINING BOOK REVIEWS

I. Consult the History Page on Books and Book Reviews:

http://www.sjlibrary.org

Click on "Research" on the top center of the Library homepage.

When the next screen appears, click on "Your SJSU Subject Where to Start" on the left menu.

Next, click on "H"

Then, click on "History"

From the left menu, select "Books & Print Sources"

Finally, at the top of the page, click on "Book Reviews"

2. Using the biographical information collected in the first two parts of this assignment, select a book by

your person or a book about your person. Find two reviews of the book you have selected. [If you do not

find two reviews for the first book you select, keep selecting different books until you find one reviewed in
two different sources.] For the most part, reviews appear within two years of a book's publication, so
check indexes for the year of publication and the three years following. Give priority to the longer reviews.

3. In the space provided, write the author and title of the book you selected and the author, journal, date
and page numbers of the two reviews you found.

Author & Title of Book: ________________________________________________________________

Reviews:
(1)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________

(2)_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Location: ______________ Call Number: ____________________

4. Use the Library Catalog to locate the journals. Once on the main Library Catalog page, select title and type in the name of the journal (not the title of the article). Write down the call number and location in the spaces above. Go to the Lower Level of the King Library, find the reviews, and photocopy them. Read each review carefully. Summarize and compare the information you found in the two reviews. [You will have to complete your answer on the back side of this sheet]

Attach the copies of the reviews to this page when you turn in the assignment.