On The Research Log
Professor Catherine Lavender
The Research Log:
A "research log" is a record of the process by which your research was undertaken, along with documentation of both positive and negative results; think of the logs as diaries of your research process, listing the sources you consulted (even if they didn't yield anything) and the library resources utilized. To document your research, you should sumbit a photocopy of the relevant pages of any consulted works (in the case of longer pieces, a copy of the first page of the relevant section will serve), along with the full citation for each source consulted. The log should also include a list of search terms used (in the case of library-based research, a list of used terms as well as the Library of Congress subject designations; for archive-based research, the NUCMC listings as well as information about available in-archive finding guides or related collections; for web-based research, the search terms entered into internet search engines as well as the names and URLs of the engines used). There is no word-limit on logs, but your logs should satisfy the professor that you have a command of basic research methods in history, and that you have sought corroborative evidence for your research even if you don't find much. Your grade on the research logs will be based at least in part on your efforts and your diligence, rather than solely on your results.
For further information about starting research consult:
A Starting Point Guide to Research for History Students at
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/research.html
Using the Library as a Starting Point for Research at
http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/libraryresearch.html
What follows are some sample entries which might appear in a research log.
Topic: Oscar Micheaux, African-American filmmaker and writer
Keyterms:
African-American film
Black film
silent film
Nebraska pioneers
filmmakers
African-American filmmakers
Black filmmakers
film pioneers
homesteaders
The Homesteader
The Unforgiven
Within Our Gates
Body and Soul
The Girl from Chicago
early film
early filmmakers
The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer
The Homesteader: A Novel
The Masquerade, An Historical Novel
The Story of Dorothy Stanfield: Based on a Great Insurance Swindle, and a Woman!
The Case of Mrs. Wingate
The Wind From Nowhere
The Forged Note.
LOC Subject Designations:
Micheaux Oscar 1884 1951;
Micheaux Oscar 1884 1951 Criticism And Interpretation;
Racially mixed people -- United States;
African Americans -- Color -- Social aspects;
African Americans in motion pictures;
African Americans In Motion Pictures Bibliography;
African American entertainers;
African Americans -- Biography;
Silent films;
Silent Films History;
Silent Films History And Criticism;
Silent Films United States;
Silent Films United States History;
Silent Films United States History And Criticism;
Feature films.
WORKS CONSULTED (samples):
Electronic Reference:
Reference Work: Contemporary Authors Online (The Gale Group, 2000) [Accessed via Denver Public Library, at http://www.denver.lib.co.us/]
Search Term: Micheaux, Oscar
Result: Brief biography, with information on personal life, career, writings, sidelights, and further readings.
Author: none given.
Attached: First page of document.
Print Reference:
Reference Work: Dictionary of Literary Biography. Volume 50: Afro-American Writers Before the Harlem Renaissance, ed. Trudier Harris (Broccoli Clark Layman, 1986), pp. 218-225. [CUNY Graduate Center Reference, PS 21 .D5 v. 50]
Search Term: Micheaux, Oscar
Result: biographical and critical essay, with criticism of works, especially The Conquest, The Forged Note, and , with a bibliography of writings by Micheaux and further readings.
Author: J. Randall Woodland, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Attached: First page of document.
Website:
Search Engine: Google (http://www.google.com/)
Search Term: "Oscar Micheaux"
Results: About 2,460
Attached: printout of first page of results.
Website: Oscar Micheaux Society Home Page, Duke University [http://www.duke.edu/web/film/Micheaux/]
Description: Contains back issues of the Oscar Micheaux Society Newsletter (9 volumes available), and links regarding the The Symbol of the Unconquered Television Premiere on Turner Classic Movies, July 1st, 1998.
Author: This page is maintained by the Duke University Program in Film & Video, www.duke.edu/web/film/. No updated date; visited 9/25/2001.
Attached: Printout of first page of site with date and URL.
Website: Oscar Micheaux: A Bibliography of Materials in the UC Berkeley Library, Media Resource Center, Moffitt Library, The University of California at Berkeley [http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Micheauxbib.html]
Description: A bibliography of Websites, Books and Articles, and Written Works by Micheaux.
Author: Document maintained on by Gary Handman, Head, Media Resources Center. Last updated 7/12/01; visited 9/25/2001.
Attached: Printout of first page of site with date and URL.
Print Journals:
Article: Charles Musser, "Turning the Tables," Film Comment v. 36, no. 5 (September 2000): 67-97. [Staten Island Periodicals, 3rd Floor (Non-Circulating), SHELVED BY TITLE]
Summary: a critique of Micheaux's film Body and Soul.
Attached: p. 67.
Electronic Journals:
Article: Gerald R. Butters, Jr., "From Homestead to Lynch Mob: Portrayals of Black Masculinity in Oscar Micheaux’s Within Our Gates," The Journal for MultiMedia History, Vol. 3 (2000): http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol3/micheaux/micheaux.html.
Attached: Printout of first page of site with date and URL.
Print Books:
Book: Pearl Bowser, Jane Gaines, and Charles Musser, Editors and Curators, Oscar Micheaux and His Circle: African-American Filmmaking and Race Cinema of the Silent Era (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001). [Purchased]
Search term: Micheaux on Amazon.com.
Description: Collected essays about Micheaux works; first chapter available on Indiana University Press website, at http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/books/0-253-33994-4.shtml.
Attached: title page with publication information.
Book: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Cornell West, "Oscar Micheaux," in The African-American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century (New York: Free Press, 2000), pp. 106-108. [CU-Boulder Library, E185.96 .G38 2000]
Search Term: African-American filmmakers.
Description: Brief overview of Micheaux's works in context of African-American creativity in the twentieth century.
Attached: p. 106.
Archives:
Search Results, National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) [via WWW, at http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/nucmc.html]
Search Terms: Micheaux, Oscar
Results: No matching results
Attached: printout of query results page.
Search Results, National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) [via WWW, at http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/nucmc.html]
Search Terms: Robeson, Paul (Paul Robeson made his film debut in Micheaux's film Body and Soul)
Results: 55 returned.
Attached: printout of query results page.
Archival Collection: Paul and Eslanda Robeson Collection, 1907-1988, 6 linear ft., Howard University, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center (Washington, D.C.)., Control No. DCLV96-A948.
Description: Writings by and about the Afro-American actor, scholar, and political activist Paul Robeson, awards and tributes, correspondence, photographs; together with material related to Eslanda Goode Robeson (1896-1965), chemist, anthropologist, and writer.
Attached: printout of results information page.
Archival Collection: Paul Robeson Collection, 1916-1981, 4 linear ft., Paul Robeson Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University Libraries (R-MC 12), Control No. NJRV94-A22.
Description: Includes correspondence, scrapbooks, books, articles, clippings, reviews, tributes, photographs, and sound recordings relating to Robeson's activities as a scholar, athlete, singer, actor, and political activist. Assembled over the years by the University Archives staff and the Office of Alumni Relations, the collection contains a bibliography of the Schomburg Collection, notes and correspondence in Robeson's hand, photographs and reviews of performances, and many articles concerning Robeson's athletic and scholarly career at Rutgers
College. Finding aid in repository (folder level control).
Attached: printout of results information page.
Archival Collection: Paul Robeson Collection, 1925-1956, 1943-1956, Originals: 6.8 lin. ft., Copies: 9 microfilm reels (researchers limited to microfilm), Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, N.Y. 10037. Control No. NYPW89-A185.
Description: Correspondence, texts of speeches, articles, columns and statements written by Paul Robeson and his wife, Eslanda Goode Robeson, photographs, news clippings, and press releases documenting Robeson's artistic and political activities.
Attached: printout of results information page.
Prepared for HST 701--Historical Method and Historiography, the M.A. Program in History, The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester 2001. Send email to lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu
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