Welcome to the Seton Hall Model Gary Convention research guide! This page was created to assist high school students and faculty advisors begin their research for their Model Gary Convention presentations. This is by no means an exhaustive list of resources, but hopefully these materials will be of some help.
The following links may be helpful for browsing topics and gathering background information. Faculty advisors can help students refine their topics and develop keywords and search terminology that they can use to find books and articles.
The following videos were developed by Seton Hall Librarians to help students take a broad research topic and explore it to create a more focused topic. The concepts within these may be helpful for faculty advisors to review with students. Unfortunately, our database Credo is not licensed for use with non-SHU affiliates, but a Google search and even a Wikipedia search for background information can be really helpful for mindmapping and brainstorming research topics, in addition to the other websites listed in this box. Students should understand that Wikipedia is not a citable, final source but can be useful for thinking critically about a topic. Also, the reference lists at the end of Wikipedia articles often lead to useful sources.
To Access More Books:
Tip: You can also help students find books if their school's have libraries. You can also help them locate the website for their local public library and find information on how to obtain a library card if they do not already have one. Many local libraries instituted policies during the pandemic for registering for a free temporary electronic library card. Examples of this: Maplewood and Irvington. Beyond that, students would need to go to a library in person, usually, to register for a library card and to bring various proofs of residency to obtain a library card. They can call their local library for details on that, or you can assist them with that! A library card is a life-long friend, so it would help them beyond the scope of this project.
Get Free JSTOR Articles by Registering
Because of COVID-19, JSTOR’s usual policy of allowing 6 free journal articles a month has expanded to 100 free articles a month. If students don’t have access to JSTOR through their school they can register here to get that access.
Access News Sources
Do a Google search and then select the "news" tab to see recent news publications on a topic, for example John Lewis Voting Act. Just be aware to investigate the publisher of the news and read critically!
Open Access, Freely Available Historical African American Newspapers