Finding Sources for World History Projects transcript

So our professor assigned us a history project and World History Commons was one of the sources we could use. All right let's see what we have - okay first I head to worldhistorycommons.org

Cool pictures, what happens if you click one. Oh, you're directed to that source, good to know. Back to the home page - oh pictures are different this time you got to remember that you won't see this same source on the homepage the picture seemed to rotate. So in the upper right, I see Sources, Teaching, Methods and Reviews. I see we need sources for our project so how about we start there. Looks like there are filters on the left side of the page for region period subject and type. Hmm I'd like to do something on Ibn Battuta who traveled across Africa and Asia in the 14th century. How does that sound? Sounds great, so let's try global for the region, post classical for the time period, and travel for the subject Apply. The four results don't have Ibn Battuta but one is an earlier geographer whose map the Battuta could have seen, nice. Let me copy the citation from the bottom of the source.

All right nice. It's nice that every source has a citation already created at the bottom of the page. Let me think - I know too many filters or search terms can eliminate useful sources so this time just try putting post classical in the time period in travel in the subject. Oh nice seven sources down excerpt from Battuta's travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354. Let's see, what we've got. Annotation section looks like someone giving some background information on Battuta. A selection like an excerpt from Battuta's travels in Asia Africa 1325-1354. Oh huh, the credits section shows where World History Commons originally got this selection. Oh, and there's a citation at the bottom. Copy that, done. At the bottom of the annotation is this source is part of the trade and religion in the Indian Ocean Network, 1100 to 1500 Teaching Module. We're not teachers but maybe there will be something useful. Looks like the links are blue with an underline. Long Teaching Module: Trade and Religion in the Indian Ocean Network 1100-1500. Could be useful let's see what's up. Overview says there are eight sources we can make our project about trade in the period. If we do that we'd be done finding primary sources. What's the essay? Oh it gives a broader context for Battuta's voyages. Okay, that's useful. Oh and the additional resources has a book on Ibn Battuta by Ross Dunn. Well that saves us from having to do a library search. Okay, so the teaching section had some materials we could use even though we're not teaching anything, let's see if methods has the same. Those pages seem to be how-to explainers for different types of sources. Nothing is an obvious fit for our project. I'll filter for travel. Here's an analyzing travel narratives page. A travel narrative is what Battuta wrote. Looking at this page there are all 20th century travel narratives. Not useful for a primary source for our project still let's skim the video transcript to see if there's anything related to historical travel. Video two asked some good questions we can adapt to his travels in Asia and Africa. I'll copy the how to cite this source section. Okay, okay, last search. I'll put Battuta in the search bar for the upper right corner just to be sure I get everything that has his name. Two sources bummer though both which we've already found.  Well we found a ton of great information on Ibn Battuta - one primary source, three secondary sources, and a book we can check for in the library. I think the fact that we knew who we wanted to research was useful and now that we've used the site I might just try clicking around to see what other sources might be useful.