Research Guides: HIS 237 (Michigan History): Research Tips for Project

The HIS-237 Civic Engagement Project is a big project. Use the keyword and database tips and guidance below to help you with your research. Space your research out over the course of the semester and it will feel less overwhelming. Try to research one topic per week. Reach out to a librarian if you need research assistance.

Develop a Search Strategy

1. Pick the four historical events you want to research

2. Develop a list of keywords to use in library databases

Use background research about the site/event (internet searches, encyclopedias, etc.) to develop lists of keywords to use in library research database searches to find academic/scholarly sources.
Think broadly about the historical event for your historical analysis:
- generally don't search for your specific site for your academic research.
- Search the larger themes represented at the historical site such as labor strikes, racism and discrimination, underground railroad, women's suffrage, etc.)
Think of synonyms for keywords (Native American or American Indian), try searching for the subject themes (ex: Native American Treaties) and Michigan or the Great Lakes instead of the specific site/event.

3. Plan your Search Strategy for Databases

Use the word AND to combined terms (underground railroad AND Michigan)
Use the word OR to search for multiple terms (Example: Native American OR American Indian)
Phrase searching: try using "quotation marks" to search for a phrase (Example: "fugitive slave law", "Students for a Democratic Society"). Use this with caution as some topics are not consistent (Ex: March for Freedom or March to Freedom)

4. Search, Revise and Search Again

Use your search results to discover other keywords and subjects to search
Use Bibliographies or Reference Lists in books and articles to find other articles
Read abstracts to quickly decide if a source is helpful
Try to locate resources that discuss your subject in the same time period as your historic site (Examples: race riots in the 1960s, labor strikes in the 1930s)
Use the Detroit Bibliography to help locate references for Detroit events/sites.

Keyword Search Examples

Here are some keyword search tips for some harder to research events for this project. For the historical analysis part of this project you may not find an academic book or journal that talks specifically about the event location (ex: Second Baptist Church in Detroit) but you will find several books and articles about the Underground Railroad in Michigan. Use the AND/OR Boolean operators to help craft your search. These keyword examples will work in JSTOR and OneSearch (library discovery search).

Keyword Examples:
Topic/Event	Keyword Examples
Soujourner Trut speaks at Methodist Episcopal Church in Saginaw	Soujourner Truth AND suffrage OR "right to vote" Michigan AND suffrage (use OneSearch)
Anna Howard Shaw or Susan B. Anthony at Michigan Capitol	Anna Howard Shaw AND suffrage Susan B. Anthony AND suffrage Michigan AND suffrage (use OneSearch)
Rosie the Riveter and Women's contribution to WWII, Willow Run	Rosie the Riveter AND Michigan Women AND World War II AND Labor AND Michigan OR Detroit (Michigan History Magazine has a couple of good articles)
Saginaw Valley 10-Hour Strike	Saginaw Valley Lumber Strike Knights of Labor AND Michigan lumber industry AND Michigan lumber industry AND labor strike OR labor union
Ford Hunger Strike at Ford River Rouge Plant	Ford Hunger March OR Ford Hunger Strike labor movement AND Michigan AND 1930s labor movement AND Ford AND 1930s Ford AND Harry Bennett OR Frank Murphy OR communism OR communist party
Battle of the Overpass at Ford River Rouge Plant	Battle of the Overpass Ford AND Labor Unions United Auto Workers OR Walter Reuther Harry Bennett Rouge OR Ford AND labor unions
1936-1937 Sit-Down Strikes at Fisher Body Plant	sit down strike AND Flint OR Fisher Flint strike fisher
Detroit's first race riot; Blackburn's; Fugitive Slave Law	Blackburn's Underground Railroad AND Detroit OR Michigan Fugitive Slave Act AND Detroit OR Michigan Abolition AND Michigan
Stop on the Underground Railroad at Second Baptist Church	Underground Railroad AND Michigan
Walk for Freedom led by Martin Luther King, Jr.	Walk for Freedom OR Walk to Freedom Martin Luther King AND civil rights marches
Crosswhite Affair	Fugitive Slave Act and Michigan Crosswhite AND Michigan Michigan Historical Review Fall 2022 issue has good articles for this topic

JSTOR Search Tips

Click through the slides and hotspots below to learn more about searching in JSTOR (2 slides)

Michigan Historical Review Search Tip

Michigan Historical Review is a great journal source for the Civic Engagement Project. When searching MHR directly through the Project Muse database be sure to use the Search within journal search box and not the Project Muse search box at the top of the page. We only have access to Michigan Historical Review full text through this database, not other sources that appear in a database-wide search.

Michigan Historical Review articles more than 5 years old will appear in searches in JSTOR but you must use the link through the Project Muse database to access articles published in the last 5 years.

OneSearch Search Tips

Click through the slides and hotspots below to learn more about searching in OneSearch, the library discovery search. OneSearch will search almost all library databases (including JSTOR), eBooks and print books in a single search. You can limit your search to journals and eBooks.