WEEK 9: Civil War, Lincoln & the Press

N.Y.H. stands for New York Herald, the most influential newspaper
during the Civil War period. Reporters traveled with the troops.

OBJECTIVES   To draw a clear line between secondary and primary sources. To begin learning how to make these two types of sources work in harmony. To begin using real databases to get beyond simple Google searches. To become more savvy and creative in crafting search strings that return productive results.

START   With this article from the First Amendment Encyclopedia. We will use this article as our secondary source and jumping off point for this assignment. Feel free to explore related articles that are linked in the right-hand sidebar if they interest you.

PAIR OFF   With your partner. You will work together during the research phrase of this project. You can share things you find together for your individually written blog posts.

GO TO   HPU Libraries and look for Databases A-Z in the left-hand sidebar. There, search for Gale, then choose Gale Primary Research. There, choose American Historical Periodicals.

GO TO   HPU Libraries and look for Databases A-Z. There, search for the word African American, then choose African American Historical Newspaper.

GO TO   nytimes.com and create an account. Most of the article is available using a free account, but many older articles are not.

GO TO   Databases A-Z again and type in JSTOR. This is a great database for secondary source material, i.e., scholars writing about the topic you are researching.

GO TO    Databases A-Z again and type in communication, then choose Communication and Mass Media. This is a great source for research about the entire field, including journalism.

GO TO    The searchable archive of Editor & Publisher magazine — E&P ARCHIVE.    

ASSIGNMENT    Building on the research you already did for your EOTO Journo Hero, turn your attention from Google searches and secondary sources to database searches and primary sources. For journalism historians, the central question of most research is this: How did the press cover (this person or this event)? So your research questions would become, How did the press write about, portray, treat my Hero? Did they write about him/her during their lifetime or after? Did they praise their work or vilify it? Use any and all the databases above to answer these questions.  Key Post  — at least 500 words — graded separately — DUE APRIL 1. Drop-dead dealine: no late work accepted.

EXAMPLE   What is footnote farming? When you go into a work by another and examine their sources to see if there is something useful for you to pursue for your own article. See this article that has references and links that might lead to helpful material.

CITE   We'll practicing citing newspaper and magazine articles in APA style, as outlined at these links for newspaper articles and magazine articles.