Evidence Explained

Contents: An Overview

• Do you understand all the many different record types that you find?
• Do you understand how the differences in these records impact your research?
• Do you know the degree of reliability you can place in one record vis à vis another of somewhat similar type?
• Do you wonder what other records might exist for a particular event?
• Do you know why published sources are cited differently from unpublished materials—and how those citation differences can help or hamper your ability to locate a source?
• Do you understand the differences in citing different forms of the same record—say, originals versus microfilm versus digital images—and why these differences matter?
• Are you puzzled by the organization schemes used by different archives?
• Are you confused by differences in U.S. and international records?

Evidence Explained will guide you through all these issues—and many more. Its fourteen chapters cover virtually every type of material used by researchers in the social sciences, and each of them in various media versions.

Evidence Explained emphasizes resources not covered by standard citation guides. Its closing chapters also cover published resources (the conventional fare of classic citation guides such as APA, Chicago, MLA, and Turabian) and EE follows familiar conventions in doing so. However, EE’s chapters also guide you in capturing all the additional data that can significantly affect the reliability you place in these derivative materials.