Tips for RS151b Research Paper
Spring 2008

You are required to write an 8-9 page (1,800 word) research paper on a topic related to religion in American history after 1865. Details of the research paper requirements can be found on your course syllabus in addition to the research questions you choose from. This web page is to help you with the research component.

STEP ONE: TOPIC SELECTION
Perhaps the hardest part of this assignment is choosing an appropriate topic, a topic that fits the course but is suitable for an 8-9 page paper.

Start with a reference book
The following is a selection of some of the reference books from the UCSB Libraries that might help you pick a topic. Remember to pick something that is interesting to you because it is really difficult to write a good paper on a topic that holds no interest to you. Decide which group, denomination or movement appeals to you the most and then look it up in a few reference books (from the list below or another you might find). Reference books will help you define and describe your topic.

• New historical atlas of religion in America
  Reference G1201 .E4 N4 2001
• Encyclopedia of African and African-American religions
  Reference BL2462.5 .E53 2001
• Encyclopedia of Native American religions
  Reference E98 .R3 H73 2000
• Cults in America: a reference handbook
  Reference BL2525 .L486 1998
• The Oxford history of the American West
  Reference F591 .O95 1994
• Encyclopedic handbook of cults in America
  Reference BL2525 .M45 1992
• Encyclopedia of the American religious experience
  Reference BL2525 .E53 1988
• Religious leaders of America: a biographical guide to founders and leaders of religious bodies, churches, and spiritual groups in North America
  Reference BL2525 .R47 1999
• Racial and religious violence in America: a chronology
  Reference HN90 .V5 .R33 1991
• African-American religious leaders: a-z of African Americans
  EGSL Reference BL72 .A27 2003
• American religious leaders
  Reference BL72 .H33 2003
• American reform and reformers: a biographical dictionary
  Reference HQ1412 .A46 1996
• Historical dictionary of new religious movements
  Reference BP601 .C47 2001
• Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America
  EGSL Reference BL458 . E52 2006

STEP TWO: SELECTING SEARCH TERMS
Part A:

Once you have an idea for a topic, you need to focus on a particular aspect for your research. You can use the attached blank worksheet to help you develop research topic.

To build your search string, use OR to connect the similar concepts; use AND to separate the different ideas. Use PARENTHESIS when combining OR with AND:
(African-American* or black*) AND (religio*) AND (race OR racis*) AND (influenc* OR effect* OR affect*)

The asterisk (*) is the symbol used in Pegasus to truncate the words. This means that you are searching for any words that begin with the letters before the asterisk. For example "religio*" will search for "religion," "religious," and "religiosity." Most databases have a truncation symbol and usually it is the asterisk; check the online help screens to confirm before you search.

STEP THREE: FINDING SOURCES
Books
Use Pegasus to find books for your topic.

• Do KEYWORD searches combining terms from different columns in your keyword search strategy chart
  • example: black* religio*

Articles
To find articles, first you must use an article index and then you have to find the actual article itself. To access these databases from off campus, you must go through the proxy server. From the Library's home page, select RESEARCH then ARTICLE INDEXES & DATABASES to find the following databases.

Academic Search Complete

• Keyword search to find articles on your topic: use AND, OR with PARENTHESIS to make a complex search; you are only limited by the size of the search box
  • Click on "Academic Journals" to limit to scholarly articles
  • Results are either full-text articles, abstracts, or citations
    • If the result is an ABSTRACT or a CITATION, use UC e-links to check if UCSB has the journal

America: History & Life

• Click on "Academic Journals" to limit to scholarly articles
• Select "English" in the drop-down list by Language
  • to get your hands on the article, use UC e-links to determine if UCSB has a copy

Sociological Abstracts

• Keyword search to find articles on your topic
  • Change the other search box fields to keyword
  • When you have results, click on the "Peer-Reviewed Journals" tab to get only the scholarly ones
• Use UCeLinks to find the item.

ATLA Religion

• Keyword search to find articles on your topic
  • Change the other search box fields to Keyword
  • When you have results, click on the "Peer-Reviewed Journals" tab to get only the scholarly ones
  • If the record says "Publication Type: Review," it is a book review and not an article you can use for this paper. You might want to find the reviewed book, but the review itself will not be an acceptable source
  • Look for "Publication Type: Journal Article"
    • Use UCeLinks to find the item.

Periodical Contents Index Full Text

• Search the entire database because if you limit to full text you won't get many results
• Do not use a complicated search -- just one word from a couple of your columns on the keyword search strategy worksheet
• To see if UCSB has the journal, search the journal's name (found in the "Reference" field) in Pegasus as a "title begins with" search

Web Pages
Be careful when searching for web pages for your research. Be critical; you don't want to cite some grade-school kid's webpage. Use our How Do I Know What's Good on the Web? guide to help you evaluate what you find.
Two good places to find quality websites are UCSB's Internet Resources for Religious Studies page and Rutger University's Virtual Religion Index: American Studies.

STEP FOUR: WRITING YOUR PAPER

CLAS is having help sessions just for RS 151b. Go to SRB 2282.
Getting Started: Wednesday April 23rd at 5pm and Thursday April 24th at 2pm
Revision Strategies (you have to take a draft for this one!): Monday June 2nd 12pm and 4pm.

Remember that you are to use the Turabian citation format for this assignment. If you do not own a copy of Turabian's A manual for writers of term papers, theses and dissertations, you can use the one at the Davidson Library Reference Desk. You can also consult this online guide. You can also try this online citation machine, but I recommend you double-check it against either a print or online guide.

GET HELP!
You can also talk with a librarian about your searches as you begin working on your class project. There are reference librarians available at the Reference Desk in Davidson Library Monday - Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday 9am-5pm, Saturday 1pm-5pm and Sunday 1pm-9pm. Feel free to ask any of them for help as you need it.

FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
You will want to use the above resources plus consult bibliographies and primary source material.

Primary source material:
You can find online (digitized) primary source material through the library's website. The following is a list of some that may be of interest to you. See the library's Archives/Primary Sources page for details on each of these resources and others.

• Documenting the American Sourth
• Everyday Life and Women in America
  • Historical Newspapers Online
  • New York Times
  • Los Angeles Times
  • Wall Street Journal
• Making of America
• North American Women's Letters and Diaries
• Online Archive of California: California Heritage Collection
• Pennsylvania Newspaper Record: Delaware County 1819-1870
• Salem Witch Trials: documentary archive and transcription project
• United States Historical Census Browser
• Western History Photography Collection