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RESEARCH GUIDES

JOUR 328G: Enterprise Sports Reporting

Resources for your Baltimore baseball history research project

Two Ways to Find Sources

1) Use keywords to search.

Find sources in research databases, archives websites, and Google using keywords and other search strategies.

  1. Generate a list of keywords and phrases related to your topic. Think about what terms, including people and places, would be used in the types of sources you want to find. Think about synonyms, nicknames, or other concepts related to your keywords, too.
    • Orioles
    • Negro League
    • Baltimore
    • baseball
    • stadium, ballpark, complex, Camden Yards, Oriole Park, Bugle Field, Memorial Stadium
    • dome
    • design, plan, proposal, development, architecture
  2. Search your database by combining your keywords/phrases.
    • "Camden Yards" stadium design
    • baltimore AND baseball AND (stadium OR ballpark OR complex OR "Camden Yards")
    • baltimore baseball (stadium OR ballpark) (design OR dome OR retractable) (plan OR proposal OR decision)
  3. Use filters to narrow your results -- for instance, by publication date (if you're looking at newspapers).
  4. Searching is a process! You will have to try multiple searches with different combinations of keywords to get the results you want. Pay attention to what kinds of words are used in the results you find, and use those as new keywords in your search.

2) Use sources you already have to track down other sources.

  • Take a secondary source -- like a book on your topic -- and look at its references, including image citations. Where did the authors find the sources they're citing? Track those down.
  • Create a timeline document with months and years. As you find relevant newspaper articles, add significant events (city council meetings, stadium grand openings, etc.) to your timeline with as much identifying information as possible to find content in another source.
    • For example, if you find relevant Baltimore Sun articles, add dates and event information to your timeline. Then search the Baltimore News-American archives to find which issues of the newspaper are most likely to cover the same events.