Doing Research

Forming a Research Topic

Begin with a topic that interests you, something that caught your attention, made you curious. I would recommend that you use the assigned readings or the lectures as your point of departure and that you begin with primary source material.

Posing Questions

You will want to begin formulating questions of and about your sources -- both primary and secondary -- right away. This will help you to direct your research.

Getting Started

First mine the footnotes and bibliographies of the assigned books and articles. (For example, the recommended books for both of my classes have bibliographies and indexes, as well as detailed discussions of topics we touched on in class but didn't discuss at length.)

Use the views of these scholars to begin to revise and expand the questions you started with.

Research and Resources

The Smathers library has several resources that will be of use to you.

i) Encyclopedias: in the Reference department of the Library

The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism has very helpful introductory essays on concepts, people, literature, places pertaining to the historic and rhetorical development of apocalypticism.

The Encyclopedia of Religion contains good for thematic essays on major religions figures and concepts.

The Medieval Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia is an excellent starting point for research in Jewish history.

For medieval topics, the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages and the Dictionary of the Middle Ages both provide good introductory essays.

ii) The search engine Rambi is a nearly complete catalogue of articles in all topics in Jewish Studies published in books and journals during roughly the past two decades. Keyword and Subject searches will likely be the most productive, unless you know the names of contemporary scholars who have worked in the field you are researching. JSTOR, and Project Muse, available through the Electronic Resources alphabetical list, are search engines with direct links to journals' tables of contents, many of which have links to on-line articles. FirstSearch in WorldCat (another bibliographic search engine) may also be helpful. (Follow this link if you're logging on from home: http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/ufproxy.html ).

iii) Search in the Smathers Library Catalog. Once again, keyword and subject searches will most likely yield the best results. You may find that the books you want to use have been checked out or are not available at the UF library; beginning your research early will provide you with enough time to track down resources that are not immediately available.

iv) The internet is generally unreliable and inconsistent for scholarly research. The vast majority of sites you will find on the internet are not of the caliber necessary for original research and may be riddled with inaccurate information. The following are reliable sites which may prove useful to you.

http://www.the-orb.net/ This is an academic site, written and maintained by medieval scholars for the benefit of their fellow instructors and serious students.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html The Medieval Sourcebook is a major website for medieval sources (scanned on from out-of-copyright books) and some secondary sources as well.

http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/ Also an academic site with primary and secondary sources organized by topic, theme, and/or geographical location.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/jewishsbook.html The Internet Jewish Sourcebook includes texts in translation and resources for Jewish studies research.

The components of a good essay

Thesis As its most important quality, a good essay has a theme, a clearly stated central idea. In developing this theme, the essay maintains a thesis. That is, it presents an argument about its topic. At the same time, remember that your argument is not the only possible argument. It is wise to anticipate and address possible objections to your argument.

Organization The author has carefully broken the central idea (or the topic or argument) into its main divisions and subdivisions and organized each point in the argument accordingly.

Coherence The argument flows smoothly from beginning to end, from introduction to conclusion, the author has provided transitions from one idea (or paragraph) to the next, creating a logical sequence of ideas.

Evidence A good essay supports its argument by giving factual information, examples, and, when necessary, quotations, and it shows (and explains) the relevance of this evidence to the thesis.

Style The writing is clear and concise. Verb tenses match, verbs and nouns match in number, the correct pronouns have been employed throughout. The quality of a narrative, analysis, or argument depends upon the quality of the writing. It is the author's job to make the point of the essay clear to the reader.

Suggestions for starting off on the right foot

1. Take notes on your reading. This will help you retain important information and make sense of complexities in the sources. Generally this is a better way to organize and process information than highlighting.

2. Construct an outline. a) When reviewing your notes, identify themes or points of interest that caught your attention during the first reading. b) Decide which of these are most important, selecting -- ideally -- from three or four as your major points. c) Identify the most important point in your essay. d) Organize your supporting points under subheadings.

3. Always strive to be as clear and precise as possible. When analyzing texts, as you will in this class, it can be useful to ask yourself if a reader who knew nothing about the topic or text at hand would have learned something from reading your paper.

4. Leave enough time to edit and revise the first draft of your paper.

5. Carefully proofread the final draft before turning it in.

Editing Once you have completed a draft of your assignment, you can go back and edit or polish your writing.

i) Remove all unnecessary words. If you can remove a word or phrase without altering the sense of your sentence, or an entire sentence without damaging your argument, then do so.

ii) Avoid constructing sentences that contain passive verbs, impersonal verbs (such as 'It is...' or 'There are ...'), and forms of the verb 'to be.' (Refer to Strunk and White, The Elements of Style for a complete discussion of this topic).

iii) Vary the length and structure of your sentences.

iv) Avoid intensifiers, such as 'very,' 'definitely,' 'absolutely,' 'extremely,' and 'remarkably.'

v) Avoid vague modifies such as 'quite,' 'somewhat,' 'rather,' 'to some degree,' 'to a certain extent,' 'more or less.' They may seem to verify your argument, but instead they convey a lack of confidence.

vi) Do not use slang, jargon or colloquialisms.

vii) In describing actions and events, avoid the historical present. For example: 'Charlemagne conquered (not conquers) the Saxons.' However, if you are discussing a writer's texts or views, the historical present is appropriate. For example: 'In Life of Charlemagne, Einhard describes (not described) Charlemagne's personal life, military exploits, and policies of government.'

viii) Make sure that each paragraph works as a unit. A well designed paragraph contains and develops a single idea. A good paragraph usually begins with two things: a) To make a smooth transition from the preceding paragraph, it has a word, a phrase, or a sentence showing how it is linked to (or proceeds naturally from) that paragraph; b) It has a topic sentence which states or implies the subject of the paragraph. Frequently a single sentence can perform both functions.

Proofreading Spell-check your documents. I do not advise you to use the grammar program built into word processing programs. Only you know what you mean to say; computer programs are not sensitive to nuances and can cause additional confusion. Make sure that each sentence makes sense on its own and is properly punctuated. It helps to read your work aloud to make sure that the language flows; it might also be useful to have a somebody unconnected with our class read your paper to make sure your argument and writing are clear. If you have questions concerning grammar or style consult Strunk and White, The Elements of Style or one of several websites designed to help college students develop their writing skills. (For example, http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/ is very good).

The format is also important

i) All of your assignments must be typed and double spaced.

ii) Endnotes and footnotes You will be expected to use proper historical citation style in all of the papers you write for this class. The first citation of a published work must include: a) the author's name; b) the complete title, underlined or italicized; c) in parentheses, the state and date of publication; d) the page number you are quoting from or summarizing. Every subsequent citation of that work should include: a) the author's family name; b) abridged title, underlined or italicized; c) page number(s). Your citations must be in the form of footnotes or endnotes. Do not use parenthetical citations.

For example:

'Stewards were responsible for everything from maintaining and counting livestock¹ to supervising the production of wine.^2'

¹ David Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society (Illinois, 1968), 45

² Herlihy, Medieval Culture, 49.

When to use citations There are three circumstances when you must reference your sources.

1. When you quote a block of text directly from a published source.

2. When you summarize or paraphrase an argument or a block of information contained in a published source; in particular, information that is not 'common knowledge.'

3. When you take issue with a scholar's argument or interpretation of historical evidence.