art history class -- bibliography for the library assignment

Art 416: Near Eastern Art and Architecture

Handout: library research

Today’s assignment

Today you should develop a preliminary bibliography of specialized research-quality resources to use for your research project. Your bibliography should have at least eight books or articles that will serve as a basis for a project, either a paper (about 8 double spaced pages in length) or a creative project involving a similar amount of research, but presented in a different format. At least half of these resources need to be peer-reviewed or published by academic presses. This bibliography is due next week on-line . The format for the bibliography will follow MLA format.

The purposes of today’s assignment are: 1) to familiarize you with research tools available through the library; 2) to provide practice in researching bibliography; 3) to practice proper documentation of sources; and 4) to help you refine and strengthen your project. You are encouraged to use resources (books and articles) available through Inter-Library Loan (ILL).

Regarding format for notes and bibliography

Footnotes and endnotes should be numbered sequentially throughout the paper (not page by page), providing the source of information, opinions or evidence including author's last name, the date of publication and page number (Smith 1994: 26). In-text notes may take the same format. In either case, all references should appear in the bibliography following the MLA (Modern Language Association) style guidelines. See links at http://library.csun.edu/Find_Resources/e-books/estylegd.html

For your initial bibliography (to be developed in our Library research seminar w/ Mary Wahly) please plan on collecting at least eight (8) books/ articles specifically related to your topic. Bibliographies are due on MOODLE (electronic copies) the following week, typed and following MLA format (see above).

Grading (0-5)

Main principles

1) appropriate and useful subject matter

2) formatting of bibliography is error-free

3) high quality of resources (several/ most peer-reviewed, academic books, no internet-fluff/ filler)

4) use primary historical sources and material evidence where possible