Research guide and resources for new authors - Revision history

Absentminded: /* The Columbia and Barnard Archives */

2014-09-22T18:11:46Z

‎The Columbia and Barnard Archives

Absentminded: /* Student sources */

2014-09-22T18:06:38Z

‎Student sources

Absentminded: /* Student sources */

2014-09-22T18:05:33Z

‎Student sources

Absentminded: /* Introduction to useful sources */

2014-09-22T17:58:57Z

‎Introduction to useful sources

Absentminded: /* Introductory comments */

2014-09-22T17:56:12Z

‎Introductory comments

Absentminded: /* Introductory comments */

2014-09-22T17:55:19Z

‎Introductory comments

Admin at 22:19, 8 December 2013

2013-12-08T22:19:36Z

Admin at 02:48, 2 December 2013

2013-12-02T02:48:36Z

Absentminded: /* Inserting footnotes */

2013-11-15T17:54:57Z

‎Inserting footnotes

Absentminded: /* The Columbia and Barnard Archives */

2013-11-13T19:40:51Z

‎The Columbia and Barnard Archives

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 The [[University Archives]] and the [[Columbiana Collection]] are located within the [[Rare Books and Manuscripts Library]] on the 6th floor of [[Butler Library]]. If they aren't your first stop (seriously, they have wi-fi, you can do concurrent electronic research while you're there!), the Archives should be your second stop after scouring the internet for clues because there's so much material that's simply not on the internet. Either it's under copyright, or it's in the form of clippings in subject files, personal notes and correspondences, photographs, etc. There is an amazing amount of material for perusal here, including full runs of some of the periodicals mentioned here, and much material that has been sorted into subject files to make research easier. To top it all off, the archivists are really nice people.
-In addition to the Columbia Archives, the [[Barnard Archives]] also exist, also has great staff, and is located/accessible from in the basement/tunnels level of [[Lehman Hall]].
+In addition to the Columbia Archives, the [[Barnard Archives]] also exist, also has great staff, and is accessible from the basement/tunnels level of [[Lehman Hall]].
 ==Best practices and suggestions for citations and footnotes==

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 Student sources are those written, prepared, or printed by students.
-*''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]'' - The Spectator has been continuously in operation since 1877, making it the oldest continuously printed publication in existence on campus. Originally a bi-weekly publication, it subsequently went daily. The Spectator is probably the single source with the greatest breadth of coverage, including student life, administrative moves, sports, neighborhood news etc. There are two major trade-offs: 1) breadth may sometimes come at the expense of depth, which may be in part related to 2) the regular turnover of staff means a lack of institutional knowledge to fully inform the reporting with thorough context. Despite these limitations (and the limits to which you can rely on student reporting), the Spec is currently an incomparable resource for conducting research thanks to its recent digitization of its archives, which are currently [http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/ available online] covering all of 1877-2012. This is a huge breakthrough, as the Spectator website only had archives dating back to 2000, lacked graphics and photos, and was notoriously unreliable, with its near-annual website overhauls routinely killing links. In addition, a few 19th century volumes of Spectator editions are on Google Books. For recent articles, ''Spectator's'' website search function is pretty lousy. Use Google and prefix your search with site:columbiaspectator.com to save yourself the headache. For pre-1938 Spectator issues that aren't on Google, you can do it the old fashioned way by going to the Microform and Periodicals reading room on the 4th floor of Butler and learning to operate the microform reading machines, as the hoary WikiCU founders had to. ''Spectator'''s forerunner, ''[[Acta Columbiana]]'' (1868-1885), isn't available online at all, unfortunately. You'll have to hit the Archives to read them. The Spectator website also includes access to its weekly features insert, [[The Eye]]. NB: When you cite to a ''Spec'' article, PLEASE PLEASE include the full title and date in the citation in case the link breaks. You will find a number of broken spec links throughout this site. When you find them, please try to update them. If you cannot find the current link, LEAVE THE OLD ONE. We may be able to figure out the source at a later date.
+*''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]'' - The Spectator has been continuously in operation since 1877, making it the oldest continuously printed publication in existence on campus. Originally a bi-weekly publication, it subsequently went daily. The Spectator is probably the single source with the greatest breadth of coverage, including student life, administrative moves, sports, neighborhood news etc. There are two major trade-offs: 1) breadth may sometimes come at the expense of depth, which may be in part related to 2) the regular turnover of staff means a lack of institutional knowledge to fully inform the reporting with thorough context. Despite these limitations (and the limits to which you can rely on student reporting), the Spec is currently an incomparable resource for conducting research thanks to its recent digitization of its archives, which are currently [http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/ available online] covering all of 1877-2012. This is a huge breakthrough, as the Spectator website only had archives dating back to 2000, lacked graphics and photos, and was notoriously unreliable, with its near-annual website overhauls routinely killing links. In addition, a few 19th century volumes of Spectator editions are on Google Books. For recent articles, ''Spectator's'' website search function is pretty lousy. Use Google and prefix your search with site:columbiaspectator.com to save yourself the headache. For looking up Spectator issues that aren't digitized or on Google, you can do it the old fashioned way, by going to the Microform and Periodicals reading room on the 4th floor of Butler and learning to operate the microform reading machines, as the hoary WikiCU founders had to. ''Spectator'''s forerunner, ''[[Acta Columbiana]]'' (1868-1885), isn't available online at all, unfortunately. You'll have to hit the Archives to read them. The Spectator website also includes access to its weekly features insert, [[The Eye]]. NB: When you cite to a ''Spec'' article, PLEASE PLEASE include the full title and date in the citation in case the link breaks. You will find a number of broken spec links throughout this site. When you find them, please try to update them. If you cannot find the current link, LEAVE THE OLD ONE. We may be able to figure out the source at a later date.
 *''[[The Columbian]]'' - Columbia's student yearbooks. Originally published as the Annual Catalogue from 1848-1857 (see above under Institutional Sources), the yearbook was reborn as The Columbian in 1864, and has been printed largely under that title since then (excepting 1865-1889, when it was The Columbiad). Old volumes tended to have lots of photos and "class history" type details. If you look at some volumes from the 1950s and 1960s in the [[University Archives]], you'll be envious of some of the production details. They're really gorgeous. A few old volumes of The Columbian (and The Columbiad) are available via Google Books. The [[University Archives]] has a full run for you to go and look at, but if you want to learn about late 19th century Columbia, the editions available on Google Books give you a good window into the past. It should be noted that at various times, engineering students published a separate yearbook, The Miner (1878-1889), and The Columbia Engineer (maybe 194?-1998?).

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 Student sources are those written, prepared, or printed by students.
-*''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]'' - The Spectator has been continuously in operation since 1877, making it the oldest continuously printed publication in existence on campus. Originally a bi-weekly publication, it subsequently went daily. The Spectator is probably the single source with the greatest breadth of coverage, including student life, administrative moves, sports, neighborhood news etc. There are two major trade-offs: 1) breadth may sometimes come at the expense of depth, which may be in part related to 2) the regular turnover of staff means a lack of institutional knowledge to fully inform the reporting with thorough context. Despite these limitations (and the limits to which you can rely on student reporting), the Spec is currently an incomparable resource for conducting research thanks to its recent digitization of its archives, which are currently [http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/ available online] covering all of 1938-2004 (excepting one semester). This is a huge breakthrough, as the Spectator website only had archives dating back to 2000, lacked graphics and photos, and was notoriously unreliable, with its near-annual website overhauls routinely killing links. In addition, a few 19th century volumes of Spectator editions are on Google Books. For recent articles, ''Spectator's'' website search function is pretty lousy. Use Google and prefix your search with site:columbiaspectator.com to save yourself the headache. For pre-1938 Spectator issues that aren't on Google, you can do it the old fashioned way by going to the Microform and Periodicals reading room on the 4th floor of Butler and learning to operate the microform reading machines, as the hoary WikiCU founders had to. ''Spectator'''s forerunner, ''[[Acta Columbiana]]'' (1868-1885), isn't available online at all, unfortunately. You'll have to hit the Archives to read them. The Spectator website also includes access to its weekly features insert, [[The Eye]]. NB: When you cite to a ''Spec'' article, PLEASE PLEASE include the full title and date in the citation in case the link breaks. You will find a number of broken spec links throughout this site. When you find them, please try to update them. If you cannot find the current link, LEAVE THE OLD ONE. We may be able to figure out the source at a later date.
+*''[[Columbia Daily Spectator]]'' - The Spectator has been continuously in operation since 1877, making it the oldest continuously printed publication in existence on campus. Originally a bi-weekly publication, it subsequently went daily. The Spectator is probably the single source with the greatest breadth of coverage, including student life, administrative moves, sports, neighborhood news etc. There are two major trade-offs: 1) breadth may sometimes come at the expense of depth, which may be in part related to 2) the regular turnover of staff means a lack of institutional knowledge to fully inform the reporting with thorough context. Despite these limitations (and the limits to which you can rely on student reporting), the Spec is currently an incomparable resource for conducting research thanks to its recent digitization of its archives, which are currently [http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/ available online] covering all of 1877-2012. This is a huge breakthrough, as the Spectator website only had archives dating back to 2000, lacked graphics and photos, and was notoriously unreliable, with its near-annual website overhauls routinely killing links. In addition, a few 19th century volumes of Spectator editions are on Google Books. For recent articles, ''Spectator's'' website search function is pretty lousy. Use Google and prefix your search with site:columbiaspectator.com to save yourself the headache. For pre-1938 Spectator issues that aren't on Google, you can do it the old fashioned way by going to the Microform and Periodicals reading room on the 4th floor of Butler and learning to operate the microform reading machines, as the hoary WikiCU founders had to. ''Spectator'''s forerunner, ''[[Acta Columbiana]]'' (1868-1885), isn't available online at all, unfortunately. You'll have to hit the Archives to read them. The Spectator website also includes access to its weekly features insert, [[The Eye]]. NB: When you cite to a ''Spec'' article, PLEASE PLEASE include the full title and date in the citation in case the link breaks. You will find a number of broken spec links throughout this site. When you find them, please try to update them. If you cannot find the current link, LEAVE THE OLD ONE. We may be able to figure out the source at a later date.
 *''[[The Columbian]]'' - Columbia's student yearbooks. Originally published as the Annual Catalogue from 1848-1857 (see above under Institutional Sources), the yearbook was reborn as The Columbian in 1864, and has been printed largely under that title since then (excepting 1865-1889, when it was The Columbiad). Old volumes tended to have lots of photos and "class history" type details. If you look at some volumes from the 1950s and 1960s in the [[University Archives]], you'll be envious of some of the production details. They're really gorgeous. A few old volumes of The Columbian (and The Columbiad) are available via Google Books. The [[University Archives]] has a full run for you to go and look at, but if you want to learn about late 19th century Columbia, the editions available on Google Books give you a good window into the past. It should be noted that at various times, engineering students published a separate yearbook, The Miner (1878-1889), and The Columbia Engineer (maybe 194?-1998?).

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 ==Introduction to useful sources==
-Over the course of six and a half years of contributing to WikiCU, the senior cadre of WikiCU editors have come across many useful sources in researching and developing articles. The following was originally meant to be an introduction to useful digital sources, but can also be read as an introduction to useful Columbia sources generally.
+Over the course of seven and a half years of contributing to WikiCU, the senior cadre of WikiCU editors have come across many useful sources in researching and developing articles. The following was originally meant to be an introduction to useful digital sources, but can also be read as an introduction to useful Columbia sources generally.
 ===Institutional sources===

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 Since WikiCU got off the ground in the spring of [[2007]], a wealth of historic material has become available online. Most notably this includes 1) a number of 19th-century through early 20th-century Columbia-related volumes and periodicals searchable and viewable through [http://books.google.com Google Books]<ref>Amusingly (ironically?), most of these works are scanned from the archives of other schools</ref>, and 2) the [http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia digitized archives] of the [[Columbia Daily Spectator]] (currently covering 1877-2012).
-This has made a great deal of 'armchair research', so to speak, possible - you can now engage with Columbia history in a way that was previously only possible by visiting the [[University Archives]] or major libraries, and painstakingly going through materials by hand without the aid of powerful search engines. The last decade has also seen a fantastic output of Columbia-related scholarship. While the frontiers of digitally driven scholarship are expanding by the day, there are still a lot of gaps in what you can do from home. For example, the Spectator's digitization efforts are ongoing and have decades left to cover, and Google is limited by copyright law from displaying anything more than snippets from anything printed [[1923]] or later.
+This has made a great deal of 'armchair research', so to speak, possible - you can now engage with Columbia history in a way that was previously only possible by visiting the [[University Archives]] or major libraries, and painstakingly going through materials by hand without the aid of powerful search engines. The last decade has also seen a fantastic output of Columbia-related scholarship. While the frontiers of digitally driven scholarship are expanding by the day, there are still a lot of gaps in what you can do from home. For example, Google is limited by copyright law from displaying anything more than snippets from most items printed from [[1923]] or later.
 ==Using Google and the internet to your advantage==

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:19, 8 December 2013
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 We cannot stress the importance of leaving a trail enough. So much of what we think we know about Columbia is hearsay, inferential, or even conflicting. Unless it's coming from one of the few canonical works we have (e.g. McCaughey and Dolkart's books, and even those are not gospel), having links to the sources makes sorting things out easier as we learn more.
-In the course of researching one topic, if you find some tangential reference intriguing, bookmark it. Maybe create a page without content on the wiki but leave a note about what you found and where. Either you'll come back to it later, or someone else will.
+In the course of researching one topic, if you find some tangential reference intriguing, bookmark it. Maybe create a page without content on the wiki but leave a note about what you found and where. Either you'll come back to it later, or someone else will. See [http://www.wikicu.com/index.php5?title=Maison_de_Punk&oldid=49173 this page] as an example of a stub length article with a link dump to guide future writing on the topic.
 ===Check multiple sources===

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 ==The Columbia and Barnard Archives==
-As much as there is to be said for the ease of conducting research with electronic resources, somethings just aren't available on line, and some things just need to be seen in person. For those moments, there are the [[University Archives]] and the [[Columbiana Collection]], located within the [[Rare Books and Manuscripts Library]] on the 6th floor of [[Butler Library]]. If they aren't your first, or at least concurrent stop, the Archives should be your second stop after scouring the internet for clues because there's so much material that's simply not on the internet. Either it's under copyright, or it's in the form of clippings in subject files, personal notes and correspondences, photographs, etc. There is an amazing amount of material for perusal here, including full runs of some of the periodicals mentioned here, and much material that has been sorted into subject files to make research easier. To top it all off, the archivists are really nice people.
+There is a lot to be said for the ease of conducting research with electronic resources. However, there are at least three drawbacks to relying solely on electronic sources: 1) somethings just aren't available on line; 2) some things just need to be seen in person; 3) you're depriving yourself of access to some of the most experienced and knowledgeable people about this stuff: the Columbia and Barnard archivists.
 In addition to the Columbia Archives, the [[Barnard Archives]] also exist, also has great staff, and is located/accessible from in the basement/tunnels level of [[Lehman Hall]].