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Economics 71:
Economic History Seminar

Professor Barbezat
Spring 2007

Research Tool Kit

  1. Books: Odds are that if you're interested in a topic, someone else has been as well. You can use the data in a different way from the author, building on the work that s/he has done (and giving credit, of course). Looking at books can be useful even if you don't have a well defined topic. You can start by searching the Five College Library Catalog with a keyword or two, and then branch out to related books by using the subject headings at the bottom of the record. Once you have the book in hand, check the footnotes and bibliography for sources. Or try searching the ACLS History E-Book Project which searches the full content of the books.

    Reference books that are useful for finding historical data:

    • International Historical Statistics : Africa, Asia & Oceania, 1750-2000 / B.R. Mitchell. (Ref HA 4676. M552 2003)
    • International Historical Statistics : the Americas, 1750- 2000/ B.R. Mitchell. (Ref HA 175.M55 2003)
    • International Historical Statistcs: Europe, 1775-2000/B.R.Mitchell. (Ref HA 1107.M5 2003)

  2. Articles: -- EconLit is a great place to start. Enter some search words that interest you, and take a look at the results. Many times the database will provide related concepts to narrow or expand your search. Once you get the abstract of an article, it often also gives you links at the bottom of the record to articles on related topics -- and even the source of the data the author used. In Econ Lit, you don't need to use words like "economy" or "economics", since it is an economics database . But when you search sources like Historical Abstracts or the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, it might be helpful. Depending on the country you choose, the area studies databases such as Bibliography of Asian Studies, Handbook of Latin American Studies, Index Islamicus, American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES) , and America History and Life could be helpful.

  3. Social Sciences Citation Index (via Web of Science)-- Sometimes you find a perfect article... and want to see what more has been written on this topic. The Social Science Citation Index lets you see who has cited the article. It's a very specific kind of index, but very useful for what it does.

  4. ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), maintains and provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction. This is raw data, not in Excel, and requires knowlege of SPSS or SAS to use. Janet Price in IT (jkprice) is the AC contact for local help.

  5. Dissertations Most times you will be able to find enough information in books and articles. But sometimes not enough has been published on your research topic. In that case you might want to search Dissertation Abstracts. If you find a dissertation that you're interested in, the library will purchase it. This takes several weeks, so planning ahead is necessary.

  6. WorldCat (OCLC) Search for books in thousands of libraries... and then request through Interlibrary Loan (below).

  7. Getting material: We can borrow material from other libraries, or even buy books or data to support your research. Please ask if there is something you need.

Questions? Comments? Susan Edwards (seedwards), 413-542-2676, Library Liaison to Economics