When starting to research a new topic, encyclopedias are often a good source to give you an overview of the key issues and potentially lead you to important sources. As a rule, encyclopedias are written from a neutral tone, meaning that they provide lots of factual information, but tend to not interpret the meaning of those facts or why they are important. For that reason, encyclopedia entries are very helpful in BEGINNING your research, but should never be relied upon as the only source for information on a topic. You will learn how to find more appropriate academic resources for your project in a later step.
Looking at encyclopedias can also assist your understanding of the context for your specific primary source. Context refers to what is going on AROUND the document you are studying–it highlights questions such as the background of the author, information about the place where it was created, and an understanding of the time period it is from. This knowledge will help you in analyzing your document which will take place in Step #3.
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For this assignment, you will research your primary source using:
- Wikipedia
- One other encyclopedia. A list of encyclopedias is included below. All of these encyclopedias are available online either as open access sources or through the UNBC library website.
- The introduction to your source in Worlds of History: Volume 1 to 1550.
- Chat GPT–an artificial intelligence language model system designed by Open AI.
Encyclopedias
For help in choosing the appropriate encyclopedia for your primary source: Primary Sources and Encyclopedias
The following are encyclopedias available either online (URL included below) or through the library catalogue (links included below). To access the library resources, you must be logged into the library website. Use your UNBC username and password.
- World History Encyclopedia https://www.worldhistory.org/index/
- Oxford Reference https://libguides.unbc.ca/az/oxford-reference-1
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy https://plato.stanford.edu/
- The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism https://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b2057136~S3
- The Encyclopedia of Global Religion https://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b2063105~S3
- Medieval Germany: An Encyclopedia https://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b2293239~S3
- Encyclopedia Britannica https://academic.eb.com/levels/collegiate
To submit for Step Two
Complete the following steps and include the information asked for below in your submission. Make sure that it is DOUBLE-SPACED and that you’ve formatted everything according to the instructions given.
SUBMIT YOUR ASSIGNMENT TO MOODLE.
For a Microsoft Word version of the below questions, see:
- What is the title of your primary source and the author’s name (if known)?
- Provide a bibliographic reference to the Wikipedia article, the Academic Encyclopedia article, and the introduction to your source provided in the Worlds of History: Volume 1 to 1550 textbook that you’ve read for this assignment. In history, we format references (in bibliographies and for footnotes/endnotes) using a method called the Chicago Manual of Style. You can learn more about the Chicago Manual of Style method of citation here: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html
- Choose at least one source cited or listed in the bibliography of either the Wikipedia article or academic encyclopedia article. Copy and paste that source into Google.
- See if you can find out what kind of source it is: a book? a chapter in a book? a journal article? a website?
- List that source and format it according to the Chicago Manual of Style, following the style guide above. Explain what kind of source it is and why you chose it.
- Answer the below questions for the Wikipedia article, academic encyclopedia article, and introduction to your primary source in the textbook. Do this in a question and answer format. You should address all three types of secondary sources together for each question.
- How is the information contained in these texts similar or different?
- Which text (Wikipedia article, academic encyclopedia article, or introduction in the textbook) did you find the most useful and why?
- What did you learn about the author of your primary source?
- What did you learn about the place that your primary source is from?
- What did you learn about the time period in which your primary source was written?
- What are some of the central themes connected to your primary source in the texts that you read (Wikipedia article, academic encyclopedia article, introduction in the textbook)?
- Using Chat GPT. Chat GPT uses content from various sources to generate human-like responses to questions you ask it. AI can be helpful in a number of ways, such as assisting you in finding resources for a research project. BUT its knowledge is limited and it can provide you with false or made up information. At the same time, some of the resources it provides might be old or out of date.
- Ask Chat GPT to generate a list of 5 secondary sources related to your primary source. You might need to ask this question using the author’s full name (if known) and the full title of your source (not just the title created by the textbook). If you are unsure of the full title, get in touch with one of the T.As or Dr. Wessell Lightfoot for help.
- Search for each of these 5 secondary sources using the library website or Google. See what you can find out about them.
- Submit the names of the 5 sources, formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style. Do each of these sources exist or has Chat GPT created them? What kinds of sources are they? Do they look useful for your project?
Helpful Hints Videos
For assistance in completing this step of the research assignment, I’ve made 3 videos.