ENGL 202B: Writing in the Humanities

Contact

Arts & Humanities Library
2nd Floor, West Pattee
Penn State University
Phone: 814-865-6481

Course Info

Course Name:
  ENGL 202B: Writing in the Humanities
Semester:
  Fall
Campus:
  University Park (UP)
Instructor:
   All

Cite Your Work

KnightCite
(quick citation generator)

Citation Styles
(APA, MLA etc.)

Manage your citations
(collect, organize, format)

Defining your Topic

Identify and write down key concepts and synonyms and become familiar with your topic:

Create a concept map
Consult Wikipedia or another web resource (only for helping to define your topic!)
Find a dictionary, encyclopedia, or other reference work on your topic -- useful keywords in addition to subject keywords include biographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. (hint: use The CAT)

Find Books

Once you have your key concepts and keywords, you can use The CAT to find books on your topic.

Using the "Begins With (Browse)" search, you can search the CAT using book titles or authors' names. Authors' names should be entered "last name, first name" and titles should be entered without the initial article (the, a, an...). If the book you want is about the author, make sure you search the name as a Subject, not Author.

Examples: Morton, J. -OR- english grammar for students of french

Don't have a title/author in mind? Instead of a "Keyword" Search, try using the "Topic: Title+Subject" search option with one or more keywords.

How to find materials NOT at Penn State.

Find Journal Articles

There are many databases and electronic resources to help you find journal articles here at Penn State. A good general resource for journal articles is ProQuest, a multidisciplinary database covering the humanities, social sciences, and more. You might also try the full-text journal archives JSTOR and ProjectMuse.

Don't forget to check out other subject guides for resources specific to your topic. There are guides to music, philosophy, history, languages and literature, art, etc.

Journals at Penn State

To find out which print journals we have in your discipline here at Penn State, try and Advanced Search in TheCAT:

Enter your a keyword for your discipline (ex. "philosophy") in the Keywords Anywhere field, then choose "Arts & Humanities, Pattee, 2nd Floor - Current Periodicals" from the Location drop-down menu, then click on Search.

You can find a list of electronic journals in your discipline here:

Select the Category tab, then choose your category (ex. "Arts and Humanities"), and Subcategory (ex. "Philosophy"), and click on Go.