HIST 423W: Islam in Russia

Secondary sources provide an analysis and interpretation of historical events based on primary sources. Examples include:

• encyclopedias
• historical dictionaries
• articles
• edited volumes
• monographs
• dissertations
• biographies

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

• Have you used a variety of sources?  Compare and contrast the information you find with several authors and and array of sources such as books, journal articles, and dissertations. Comparing and contrasting information will help you identify any bias and enhance the validity and reliability of your research.

• What are the author's qualifications and affiliation (i.e., where does the author work)?

• What is the date of the publication? Is the information out-of-date for your topic?

• Who's published it?  Is it a university press -- in which case the material is more likely to be scholarly?  Is the publisher of a website an educational institution (.edu site) or a commercial or organizational entity (.com or .org site) -- which may give you insight into potential biases?

• Is the information valid and well-researched?  That is, are the author's ideas supported with research documented by footnotes, a bibliography, and/or a works cited page?

Getting Started with Your Search for Articles: Modern history research will generally require one or both of the following databases.  They can be searched simultaneously or separately:

In the library catalog, books, videos and other materials are assigned Library of Congress (LC) subject headings based on their content. Here is a sample list of subject headings related to Islam in Russia. When you view catalog records in Emory University Library Catalog, these subject headings display as active links pointing to other items with the same subject.

This is not an exhaustive list of subject headings, but it should give you a sense of commonly used vocabulary and how subject headings are structured.

For shelf-browsing, the relevant call number ranges in Russian/Soviet history are

DK1 - DK949.5: History of Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics
DK33 - DK 35.5 Ethnography
DK36 - DK293 History
     DK70 - DK112.42 History: Earliest to 1613
          DK70 - DK99.7 Rus'
          DK99.8 - DK112.42 Muscovy
     DK112.8 - DK264.8 House of Romanov, 1613-1917
     DK265 - DK265.95 Revolution, 1917-1921
     DK266 - DK292 Soviet Regime, 1918-1991
     DK293 1991-
DK500 Regions Not Limited to One Republic, A-Z
DK501 - DK949.5 Local History and Description
     DK503 - DK503.95 Estonia
     DK504 - DK504.95 Latvia
     DK505 - DK505.95 Lithuania
     DK507 - DK507.95 Belarus. Byelorussian S.S.R. White Russia
     DK508 - DK508.95 Ukraine
     DK509 Southern Soviet Union
     DK509.1 - DK509.95 Moldova. Moldovan S.S.R. Bessarabia-
     DK510 - DK651 Russia (Federation). Russian S.F.S.R.
          DK541 - DK579 Saint Petersburg. Leningrad. Petrograd.
          DK588 - DK609 Moscow
     DK670 - DK679.5 Georgia (Republic)
     DK680 - DK689.5 Armenia (Republic)
     DK690 - DK699.5 Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan S.S.R.
     DK751 - DK781 Siberia
     DK845 - DK860 Soviet Central Asia. West Turkestan
     DK901 - DK909.5 Kyrgyzstan. Kirghiz S.S.R. Kirghizia
     DK921 - DK929.5 Tajikistan. Tajik S.S.R. Tadzhikistan
     DK931 - DK939.5 Turkmenistan
     DK941 - DK949.5 Uzbekistan

 Be aware that transliteration from non-Roman alphabet to the roman alphabet can render a person's name or a work's title in several different ways. In general, we use the Library of Congress transliteration tables but often, especially with well known authors or artists, exception is made so that a popularly accepted spelling is used (for example, we use Vladimir Mayakovsky, instead of Vladimir Maiakovskii).