United States History Student Edition

The Internet is a valuable source of

information about past and current events, and many primary sources, such as the Declaration of Independence, can be viewed online.

Researching First, you need to decide how you will learn about your topic. Create six questions to help you find out who, what, when, where, why, and how. Then, write each question at the top of a note card. These cards will become your research tools. You may need to add additional cards as you research. Your next step is to gather your research materials. Begin with general reference sources, such as online encyclopedias or other general Web sites, textbooks, or your notes from class. Next, try looking for more specialized Web sites or books about the topic. You can use secondary sources to gain an overview, or a broad understanding, of a topic. As you research, though, try to focus on finding primary sources. These documents will help you see how people alive at the time viewed the events or people you are researching. Many Web sites devoted to particular events or periods of history include primary source documents from that period. They can be rich sources of information for your research. Authorship You also need to find sources that are reliable. It is important to identify an author for every

secondary source you use in your research. While most print sources note the author, some articles on the Internet may be unsigned. A reader may have no way of knowing who wrote the content and whether the author is an expert on the subject. Reliable articles will be signed by experts on the subject. The authors will include details about their credentials (kreh•DEN•shulz), or evidence that they are experts. Web URLs Looking for information on the Internet is quick and rewarding. However, it can be a challenge to find out if the information you located is true. Thorough historians follow a few important guidelines as they do research on the Internet. Start by looking at the home page of the article. If the article is on the site of a university, government office, or museum, it is probably reliable. How do you know what type of organization owns a Web site? A uniform resource locator, or URL, is the address of an online resource. The ending on a URL provides clues about the source of the content. A URL that ends in .gov is a government entity. This site probably contains accurate data.

credential a document that shows a person is qualified for a task

US National Archives

Historian’s Toolkit HT15