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Review
| The Information-Literate Historian: A Guide to Research for History Students, by Jenny L. Presnell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 242 pages. $12.95, paper.
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| Presnell, Information Services Librarian and Bibliographer at Miami University of Ohio, presents current search strategies and paths to resources which will advance the research skills of historians at any level. The title of this handbook alone should attract attention. Who in the field could resist the promise of information literacy at a time when Internet access is ubiquitous but many of the scholarly contributions and primary sources are deeply buried in fee-based resources? This book is concise but impressively comprehensive, covering topics ranging from the philosophical ("What it means to be a Historian"), to fundamentals ("Historians and the Research Process"), to researching in the electronic age ("History and the Internet"). Throughout the book, Presnell weaves together theory, relevant tools, and search strategies. The layout is logical and clear, making good use of tables, inserts, screen shots, and footnotes, and it provides lists for further reading. Case studies using actual events and documents, bring history to life while at the same time developing skills needed in discovering and writing about history. |
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The chapter on reference materials provides a cross-section of standard print and web-based sources and describes the strengths of each. A useful insert compares Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia Britannica. Here Presnell refers to studies such as Jim Giles' 2005 article in Nature (p.23) on the benefits and drawbacks of these two tools. Subsequent chapters cover the use of catalogues, periodicals, maps, images, and multimedia. In chapter 5, significant emphasis is given to methods of evaluating sources. Here, Presnell considers various criteria against which students can scrutinize what they've found by considering "author authority," "audience and purpose," "accuracy and completeness," and "footnotes and documentation." As in other chapters, Presnell includes interesting examples to illustrate her points. For example, when discussing perspective and bias, she looks at the works of Holocaust historians Christopher Browning and Daniel Goldhagen, showing how different their interpretations of history are despite working with the same primary sources (p. 89). |
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Sure to please instructors and motivate students is the chapter entitled "The Thrill of Discovery: Primary Sources." There is much sound advice here about identifying types of sources (public and official records, newspapers, personal documents, literary texts, and images), choosing the best tools for targeting specific topics, and helpful tips such as being sure to use the terminology and language appropriate to the time and place. "History and the Internet" (chapter 7) focuses on key collections available through university and government sites and webliographies. Presnell points to specific repositories useful when searching for "cutting-edge" secondary sources such as the Center for History and the New Media, H-Net, and Google Scholar. She stresses the importance of getting to the "deep web" in order to retrieve scholarly material located within fee-based databases such as Historical Abstracts, America: History and Life, and JSTOR. Instructors will appreciate the weight she gives these databases over search engines, meta-search engines, and directories. |
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The book closes with "Presenting your Research." Here Presnell discusses writing style, formulating an argument, paper construction, and the ebb and flow of paragraphs. She provides practical advice on giving oral presentations and using tools such as PowerPoint. She covers the creation and design of websites and ways to ensure their usability. Short descriptions of historiographic essays, book reviews, and annotated bibliographies will be valuable to students whether they want to gain an understanding of the discipline's forms of discourse or they are just trying to complete a specific assignment for a course. Unavoidably in a book where links to web resources are included, some dead links are present. A few sites have moved and others have disappeared, so readers will need to use their searching skills to find them or similar sites. But this does not take away from the overall impressive content of Presnell's work. This slim volume efficiently shares a vast amount of knowledge and experience. History students and academic libraries would do well to add this title to their reference shelves. |
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| University of Waterloo Library, Waterloo, Canada |
Jane Forgay |
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