Successful Strategies for Teaching Undergraduate Research

The authors of this book, Marta Deyrup and Beth Bloom, are college librarians. Who else could be an expert at dealing with research? These women see hordes of college kids wandering into a library, trying to find information on “gun control,” and having no idea where to go. Do they go for the internet? For the stacks perhaps, trying to find an old book? Will the newspaper records be of any use?

    In chapter 2, the authors talk about “good research,” which seems to me like perfectly normal history work. The talk about primary and secondary sources, the importance of both, while stressing the differences. It is important, even for a high school student, to understand the difference; if the source is secondary, then the authenticity could be challenged. We are shown four points to ponder when considering the source, consisting of the origin, the reason it was created, the time period, and the significance. One example I can recall is the classic movie 55 Days at Peking, starring Charleton Heston. It has the typical “good old American boys won the war all by themselves” attitude, and shows all the foreign troops to be incompetent. However, a recent article in a military history magazine shows the opposite; most of the troops at Peking were Japanese, and they did a remarkable job at defending the embassy compound. 55 Days at Peking is a secondary source, made to stoke American ideals. The magazine article, on the other hand, while also a secondary source, was written to get the story straight.

    The authors cover research with media, archives, texts, and any other source that the average college student will need. In my day we started learning research in first grade, by going to the Encyclopedia. By fourth grade, we were at the public library, looking for books on the human. As the years went by, I learned to research not only the books, but also old periodicals. We had to look into the New York Times, old National Geographics, Time Magazine, and whatever publications we could get our hands on.

    We can blame the internet for students’ weaknesses today but blame alone will not cure the problem. Research may have to be taught to the student, and that is where this book comes in.