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HS 451: Gender in the Early Modern World, 1450 to 1750

Getting Started

This guide will help you find resources for your annotated bibliography assignment available through the Alverno library. For more information on formatting your annotated bibliography, review chapter 14.59 of the Chicago Manual of Style. 

For more examples of annotations consult Purdue University's OWL online guide.

Before you begin using the research tools of the library take some time to think about your topic and research question. Use the search strategy worksheet to generate a list of key concepts and synonyms to help you find information.

Types of Sources

  • Sources to include in your annotated bibliography come in many different forms:
Reference/General Works
Monographs
Scholarly Articles
  • Scholarly articles are original research on a specific topic. You can find scholarly articles in library databases and in Google Scholar. Some good databases to search for your annotated bibliography assignment include:
    • JSTOR
    • Academic Search Premier

This is a general database that is a great place to start searching for articles on your topic.

TIPS

  • Start with Advanced Search, look at the predictive text that drops down when you start typing for ideas on building up your word bank
  • Look at the SUBJECT terms included in the results list, add relevant ones to your word bank
  • Use the limits on the left, including PEER REVIEWED, and FULL TEXT
  • Some EBSCO databases have a Thesaurus Tool - check your terms there if you're not sure where to start
  • From within an article record you can open the full text, email the article to yourself, print, copy the permalink, and add it to your folder (NOTE: folders require you to create a free EBSCO account).

JSTOR contains a wide-range of information related to the humanities. It is an excellent resource for finding articles to cite in your annotated bibliography and reviews of books.

TIPS

  • Use Advanced Search
  • Keep your searches broad at first, use the filter options to narrow your results
  • For research articles use the Articles check box in the Item Type category
  • For book reviews use the Reviews check box in the Item Type category

Google is great for casual research, but Google Scholar is a better resource to find information for your annotated bibliography. Use the link to Google Scholar that's on the library homepage. This is synced to our databases, so if we have full text, it should give you a link.

This is also a great way to check for full text if you find a citation elsewhere. If Google Scholar doesn't lead you to the full text, contact the library for help getting a free copy of the resource you want.

Finding Books and Ebooks

  • TOPCAT  (our library catalog) is best for finding books and reference books. You'll also find items held by other SWITCH libraries, which you can request online.
    • TIPS
      • Use the Advanced Search option
      • Start with broad search terms, as you become more familiar with the topic, get more specific.
      • Use the listed subject headings. Find a result that's similar to what you want, look at the subject terms it uses, try those in your search instead.
  • Ebook Central is our main ebook provider. You can access Ebook Central from off campus by logging into your TOPCAT account.
    • TIPS
      • Create a free login on Ebook Central to download books or save them to your virtual bookshelf
      • If you download books, you'll need Adobe Digital Editions to read them on your computer
      • If you make notes/highlight as you read, we HIGHLY recommend you chose the read online option and save the book to your bookshelf
        • This saves your notes/highlighting forever. If you annotate in a downloaded ebook, everything is deleted when your checkout term is over.