INSTRUCTIONS
Identify a body of specific primary sources: If I wanted to know how abortion was covered in a major American newspaper during the year before the Roe v. Wade (1973) decision to see whether the decision incorporated the debates and controversies of the time in a specific way, I could go to the “New York Times (Historical)” database. Put together a series of such database hits, and pretty soon you have a great bibliography and the basis for a very interesting historical analysis. In sum, identifying a small body of logically related primary sources is the goal here.
identify 2 key secondary sources: these are articles, books, or book chapters by scholars or professional journalist that will not so much answer your research question as give you relevant historical context; you are not looking for law review articles analyzing the legal technicalities of your case, but rather studies of the historical time and place you are researching (e.g. late 1960s feminism; law and medicine in the early republic); you will add to this list as needed, but these two are, as far as you can tell, indispensable to your project. Write a sentence or two about each source explaining its relevance and how you hope to use the source in your research.