Primary Text Research in the Humanities
Finding Primary Texts in Print
Primary texts are the uninterpreted, textual evidence used by humanities researchers to support their arguments and opinions about their research topic.
Introduction
Primary texts in print are listed in LOUIS, our online catalog, in the form of books, government documents, newspapers, magazines, and journals.
*Remember, provide yourself enough time to do your research! It takes time to gather raw material, synthesize it, and draw conclusions about its relevance and meaning.
Finding Primary Texts in Books or Published Documents
- Identify the topic words you will use for your search. Use encyclopedias and other background resources to identify key participants, dates and publications (reports, newsletters, magazines, pamphlets, etc.) associated with your topic.
- Go to LOUIS and use the Advanced Search screen.
- Put your topic words (people, places, events) in the top box with the Keyword(s) Anywhere Search Type selected.
Some examples:
warsaw ghetto uprising
(slaves or slavery) and united states
(women or wives or wife) and united states
- Put the type of primary text or texts you are looking for in the second box and select the Keyword(s) in Subject Search Type. You must use one of the words listed below; primary text catalog records generally use one of these words as part of their subject heading(s). Skip this step when looking for literary works not covered by any of the terms below.
sources [one of the most common words that identifies primary texts]
document* [note the wild card character at the end of this term]
personal narratives
correspondence
letters
diaries
interviews
speeches
quotations
periodicals [identifies newspapers, magazines or journals]
manuscripts
reports
*You may want to combine some of the above words using "or"
Example:
sources or personal narratives or correspondence or diaries
- Click on the Go button.
For example, if you enter in LOUIS (Advanced Search) the search
Keyword(s) anywhere: (slaves or slavery) and united states
Words in Subject: sources or personal narratives or correspondence or diaries
you will obtain results that include Families and Freedom: A Documentary History of African-American Kinship in the Civil War Era and The WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives.
Note: Some of your results might include primary texts in microform or electronic format. See Finding Primary Texts in Microform Format or Finding Primary Texts in Electronic Format for more information.
Finding Primary Texts in Newspapers, Magazines or Journals
- Go to a journal or periodical index that covers the period in which you are interested. Indexes will either be in electronic or print format. Some examples of indexes you might want to use are:
If you are having trouble finding an index that covers the material and time period you are looking for, please consult a reference librarian.
- If the index is in print format, search for your topic words in the volumes of the index (each volume covers a certain year or group of years). If you are using an online index, do a keyword search for your topic words.
- You will find citations listed that give the title of a journal (or magazine or newspaper), the title of an article, the year, issue and volume number of the journal and the page numbers. Make a note of each complete citation you want to find.
- Go to LOUIS and use the Basic Search screen.
- Change the Search type to Journal Title starting with, put the name of the newspaper, magazine or journal in the search box, and execute your search with the Go button.
- If Brandeis owns the newspaper, magazine or journal, then find the call number in the stacks and look up the article you need. If Brandeis does not own the material, you can request it through Interlibrary Loan or see a reference librarian about visiting a local Boston Library Consortium library to see the article in person.
Return to Primary Text Research Practices
Created by
Ann Frenkel
Assistant University Librarian
