ITAL 4145: Age of Dante in Italian
- Getting Started
- Literature
- Religion, Politics and Society
- Citing
- Images
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Once you have determined a topic, issue or subject of interest, you will need to focus the topic into a researchable question.
The following steps should help you break the process down:
- Plan your approach to the topic. Identify related issues, people, events etc. Determine your perspective. List what you know and what you need to know.
- Develop keywords that represent your topic. You'll use these to search for books and articles for your paper. Encyclopedia and reference books can help identify keywords.
- Read around your topic to develop a comprehensive understanding of your topic. Utilize reference sources to provide you with an overview and background information on a topic, the established knowledge on a topic, the most important facts about a topic, the key figures, places, or events related to your topic and a list of recommended readings on a topic
See the following sections to give further advice on developing keywords and background information.
Before you start to research a topic, you need to develop keywords that represent your research interest, question, or inquiry.
Keywords are significant words (usually nouns or noun phrases) which can be used as search terms in online catalogs or databases. Keywords will determine the quantity and relevance of results you retrieve when searching.
First you will identify and articulate your topic in your own words:
Example: I am interested in investigating visual representations of Dante's hell.
Next you will designate the main concepts or ideas that describe the topic:
Concept 1:
visual representations
Concept 2:
Dante
Concept 3:
hell
Then develop other terms and vocabulary that represent the topic. Some terms may be broader, narrower, or synonyms. Adding terms that represent geographical distincitions, time periods, or significant figures about your topic may also be useful.
Concept 1:
images
manuscripts
iconography
incunabula
Concept 2:
13th/14th century
medieval
Middle Ages
Concept 3:
afterlife
inferno
punishment
underworld
Combining Keywords
Operators:
AND: manuscripts AND dante (must find both terms)
OR: Middle Ages OR medieval (must find one of the terms)
NOT: text NOT poetry (must find first term NOT second term)
Punctuation:
Phrases: “Middle Ages” (must find that phrase in that order)
Synonyms: (incunabula OR manuscript) AND Dante
Wildcards: feminis* will find feminist, feminism etc
For details on combining keywords for the best results view the
A good place to find keywords is from reference sources.
Reference Universe: This is a searchable database that indexes information from specialized subject encyclopedias. It does not include the full text of reference materials but will point you to reference sources that cover your topic. CU
Some more CU Reference Source examples:
REF PQ4333 .D36 2000
Medieval Italy: An encyclopedia
REF DG443 .M43 2004
The Cambridge companion to Dante
PQ4335 .C36 2007
Brill Dictionary of Religion (Online)
Stanford Philosophical Encyclopedia (Online)
Literature Encyclopedias
The Oxford companion to Italian literature
The feminist encyclopedia of Italian literature
REF PQ4063 .F45 1997
Encyclopedia of Italian literary studies
REF PQ4006 .E536 2007
Dictionary of Italian literature
REF PQ4006 .D45
Dizionario enciclopedico della letteratura italiana
PQ4006 .D5
For more reference source search tips, go to How do I find Reference Sources.
- The World of Dante
- Offers a searchable text of the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso in English or Italian, and representations of the people, places, creatures and deities that appear in the poem.
- The Dartmouth Dante Project
- The Dartmouth Dante Project (DDP) is a searchable full-text database containing more than seventy commentaries on Dante's Divine Comedy
- The Princeton Dante Project
- Combines a traditional approach to the study of Dante's Comedy with new techniques of compiling and consulting data, images, and sound.
- Danteworlds
- Out of the U. of Texas at Austin, Danteworlds presents an integrated multimedia journey, combining artistic images, textual commentary, and audio recordings.
- Digital Dante
- Combines resources, 3 Classical texts, translations, digital image resources, and more to help get you started on research
- Dante in Translation
- Interactive website to illustrate how imagery and media reveal the "conversation of the arts" underlying Dante's poetry. Contains some valuable images, but only covers Cantos VI-X of the Paradiso.
- Renaissance Dante in Print, 1472-1629
- This digital exhibition presents Renaissance editions of Dante's Divine Comedy from the John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Dante Collection at the University of Notre Dame, together with selected treasures from The Newberry Library.
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Find books and articles on literary topics
CU = Available to campus IP addresses. Remote access information.
Original Works: e.g. Divine Comedy
To find books by an author do an AUTHOR search in Chinook.
To find a novel, do a TITLE search in Chinook.
To find a copy of a play, do a TITLE search in Chinook.
Opera del Vocabolario Italiano Database
Full text vernacular literature and writings dated prior to 1375, including Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, as well as many lesser-known texts.
Research and Interpretation: e.g. Articles and Books
Looking for a biography? Try Treccani.
Books
To find books about Dante, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook and type in the author's name.
If something is checked out, request material through Prospector
Or do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to browse the subjects in the catalog:
Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 -- Criticism and interpretation Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. Divina commedia
Articles
To find articles about Dante and/or his work, try:
CU Oxford reference online : premium collection
CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.
Books
To find books about Dante's work, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook under the author's name and under the title of the work (use both). E.g. Dante and the Divine Comedy
Once you find a record that looks useful you can search by the subject heading to find similar works, or physically browse the stacks around the call number.
Request material that is checked out through Prospector
To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:
Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. Inferno Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 -- Influence Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321. Divina commedia
Articles
To find critical journal articles about Dante's work, try the following databases. Look under the title of the work, as well as under the author's name.
Start Here: MLA international bibliography
Also:
CU International medieval bibliography online
CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.
Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism Online [CU]
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms [CU]
The Bedford glossary of critical and literary terms
A dictionary of critical theory
Introducing literary theories : a guide and glossary
A multicultural dictionary of literary terms
Studying literature : the essential companion
Texts and contexts : writing about literature with critical theory
CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.
Books
To find books about other Italian literature, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook under the author's name and under the title of the work (use both).
Once you find a record that looks useful you can search by the subject heading to find similar works, or physically browse the stacks around the call number.
Request material that is checked out through Prospector
To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:
Italian literature European literature -- Renaissance, 1450-1600 -- History and criticism Literature, Medieval
Articles
To find critical journal articles about Dante's work, try the following databases. Look under the title of the work, as well as under the author's name.
Start Here: MLA international bibliography
Also:
CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.
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Find books and articles on Italian religion, politics and society
CU = Available to campus IP addresses. Remote access information.
Research and Interpretation: e.g. Articles and Books
Books
To find books about religion, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook.
Request material that is checked out through Prospector
To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:
Use and adapt these subject keywords |
| Hell -- Early works to 1800 |
| Christian art and symbolism -- Italy -- Medieval, 500-1500 |
| Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 -- Religion |
Articles
To find articles about religious themes, use the following databases:
CU Catholic Periodical and Literature Index
CU International medieval bibliography onlineCU JSTOR
CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.
Books
To find books about medieval society, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook.
Request material that is checked out through Prospector
To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:
Italy -- Social life and customs Italy -- Politics and government Women -- Italy -- History -- Middle Ages, 500-1500
Articles
To find articles about medieval society, use the following databases:
CU International medieval bibliography online
CU JSTOR
CU = Available to CU affiliates only.
How to connect from home: Remote access information.
Books
To find books about visual arts, do a KEYWORD search in Chinook.
Request material that is checked out through Prospector
To find more specific material do a SUBJECT search in Chinook to find relevant subject headings:
Use and adapt these subject keywords |
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| Christian art and symbolism -- Italy | |
| Painting, Renaissance |
Articles
To find articles about the visual arts and Dante, use the following databases:
CU International medieval bibliography online
CU JSTOR
Modern Language Association
The MLA Style is most often used in the Humanities. Below you will find some citation examples and links to online resources. For complete guidelines, consult the MLA Handbook:
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
7th edition, New York: Modern Language Association of America, 2009. Call number: LB2369 .G53 2009
Also see: How do I cite
EXAMPLES
Book with One Author
Author's last name, First name and Initial. Title in italics. Publication location: Publisher, year. Print.
Example:
Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. New York: Harmony Books, 1980. Print.
Entire Website
Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number. Name of institution/ organization affiliated with the site, date of resource creation (if available). Medium of publication. Date of access.
Example:
The Purdue OWL Family of Sites. The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue University, 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.
Article in an Online Scholarly Journal (also available in print)
Author last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Title Volume number.Issue Number (Year): Page numbers. Medium of Publication used. Day Month Year.
Example:
Smith, Mark. “Disease Outbreak in Confined Monkeys.” Zoology Monthly 6.2 (2001): 500-546. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.
Article from an Online Database
Author Last name, First name. “Article Title.” Journal Name Volume Number.Issue Number (year) : Page Numbers. Title of Database. Medium of Publication. Day Month Year.
Example:
Sonder, Clara. “Love in Medieval English Literature."
Historical Literature Journal 50.4 (2008): 145-187. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.
Try the following resources to find images for your presentation:
This guide, "How do I find images" outlines how to cite, and copyright considerations.
1,000,000 digital images. ARTstor covers many time periods and cultures, and documents the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design, as well as many other forms of visual culture. Users can search, view, and download images.
The Medici Archive Project (1537-1743) A free, online, searchable database of letters and primary documentation from the Medici Grand Ducal Archive.
World of Dante
Images (gallery) and maps
Works by Botticelli, Dali, Dore, Maps, and Vellutello of the Divine Comedy
William Blake Electronic Archive
Divine Comedy Ilustrations from Blake
