Research by Subject: Comparative and Digital Humanities: Finding Scholarly Sources

Suggested Databases

Please keep in mind that these are just a few resources that you might find helpful for finding scholarly sources.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of Comparative and Digital Humanities, the resources *you* find useful will vary from those that your classmates or those in other classes will find useful, and we have many (many!) databases that are more specialized and not listed here. Keep a critical eye, don't be afraid to ask Eloise, and try exploring the full list of our databases to learn/find more.

WorldCat Library Catalog This link opens in a new window Search for books, articles, and more that are held by Bucknell and beyond.
Art Full Text This link opens in a new window This database covers fine, decorative, and commercial art as well as photography, folk art, film, architecture, and much more. Includes full text journal articles published after 1997 as well as citations and abstracts for articles, dissertations, reviews, and other literature published after 1984.
Art Index Retrospective 1929 - 1984 This link opens in a new window Provides citations for articles, interviews, film and book reviews, bibliographies, conference reports, editorials, and other literature published between 1929 and 1984. Covers all aspects of fine, decorative, and commercial art.
America: History and Life This link opens in a new window Provides references to articles published since 1964 that deal with the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window Contains citations, abstracts, and some full text of scholarship on the history of the world from 1450 to the present.
Humanities Full Text This link opens in a new window Offers full text articles plus abstracts and indexing of scholarly sources in the humanities as well as numerous specialized journals. Includes feature articles, interviews, obituaries, bibliographies, original works of fiction, drama, and poetry, book reviews, and reviews of ballets, dance programs, motion pictures, musicals, operas, plays, radio and television programs, and more.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window An archive of core, scholarly journals from a variety of subject areas. Coverage begins with the very first issue through all but recent years.
MLA International Bibliography This link opens in a new window MLA is the primary research database for literary studies. It indexes books, journal articles, and other materials from 1963 to the present concerning literature, folklore, linguistics, modern languages, and the dramatic arts.
Project Muse This link opens in a new window Provides full text to nearly 200 scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.

What is a "Library Database"?

A library database is a searchable collection of sources (or information *about* sources) that typically includes a high proportion of scholarly, peer-reviewed material. Libraries subscribe to databases so you, your classmates, and your professors can have easier access to high-quality information and scholarship to support your research and work.

What is a "Scholarly Source"?

A scholarly source is one that is produced by one or more credentialed academic experts in a relevant field of study (for instance a historian might write a book or create an interactive map of artifacts related to the history of Indigenous environmental activism and those would be scholarly sources, but that same historian might write a diet book about the importance of fermented foods for health and that wouldn't be a scholarly source.)

Critically, a scholarly source usually goes through a process of "Peer review", which means that other academic experts in the field have closely evaluated the source, looking at it's claims, methods, and the research undertaken. This is a form of review that goes way beyond editing and way beyond the 'peer review sessions' you might have participated in in your classes.

These sources have been written and vetted by academic experts before they have been published. This means that they have a large amount of academic authority baked in but does not mean they are infallible or represent all possible truths or theories. During your time at Bucknell, you should use scholarly sources as the 'core' of your research, and eventually you should become comfortable enough with the subjects and methods to critique or critically evaluate these sources.