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Humanities research draws on a wide range of specialized sources that go beyond peer-reviewed journal articles or encyclopedias. These resources include original materials, scholarly interpretations, and contextual information. They are critical to understanding culture, language, art, history, and human experience. Knowing which type of resource to use can shape and deepen your analysis.
| Resource Type | What It Includes | Use in Research |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Sources | Archived materials, historical documents, manuscripts, oral histories, letters, images | Analyze original materials; develop arguments from firsthand accounts |
| Secondary Sources | Scholarly articles, books, critical essays, biographies | Support interpretation with expert perspectives and historical context | Bibliographies & Indexes | Curated lists of sources on specific topics or authors | Find high-quality scholarship and track down relevant materials |
| Digital Humanities Tools | Text analysis tools, data visualizations, mapping platforms | Analyze texts at scale or explore patterns in culture | Visual & Media Sources | Artworks, films, photographs, performances, multimedia archives | Examine visual culture, performance, and nontextual sources |
| Special Collections | Rare books, unpublished materials, institutional archives | Conduct original research using unique or hard-to-find sources |
Professional associations and societies play a crucial role in networking opportunities, professional development, advocacy, and many associations develop and promote industry standards. They are often the organizers of major conferences and events promoting new research.
| Association / Society | Discipline / Focus | What It Offers |
|---|---|---|
| Modern Language Association (MLA) | Literature, languages, writing studies | Conferences, the MLA Handbook, job listings, advocacy, publications |
| American Historical Association (AHA) | >History | Research resources, teaching guides, professional development, publications |
| American Philosophical Association (APA) | Philosophy | Ethics guidelines, journals, events, teaching resources |
| College Art Association (CAA) | Art history, visual arts, design | Grants, exhibitions, career resources, The Art Bulletin journal |
| American Studies Association (ASA) | American culture, interdisciplinary studies | Conferences, publications, digital projects, fellowships |
| National Communication Association (NCA) | Rhetoric, media studies, communication | Research journals, convention, career resources |
| Society for Classical Studies (SCS) | Ancient languages, literature, history | Support for Latin and Greek teaching, classics research |
| Medieval Academy of America (MAA) | Medieval studies | Access to Speculum journal, fellowships, member directory |
| American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) | Cross-disciplinary humanities & social sciences | Fellowship funding, collaborative humanities initiatives |
| Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) | Film, TV, digital media studies | Annual conference, journals, pedagogical resources |
| National Humanities Alliance (NHA) | Humanities advocacy & policy | Public scholarship, advocacy campaigns, humanities indicators |
| Archive | Focus / Content | Use in Research |
|---|---|---|
| Library of Congress Digital Collections | U.S. history, government, culture, music, manuscripts, newspapers | Primary sources for American studies, politics, literature, and more |
| Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) | Aggregated content from U.S. libraries, museums, and archives | Search across diverse digitized collections from state and academic partners |
| Internet Archive | Books, audio, video, web archives, zines, and more | Access out-of-print books, historical media, and digitized documents |
| University Special Collections | Institution-specific archives: manuscripts, letters, rare books | Explore original materials for local, disciplinary, or author-specific research |
| HathiTrust Digital Library | Digitized books and documents from academic libraries | Search full-text of millions of scholarly and historical texts |
| Europeana | European cultural heritage: art, music, fashion, history | Compare international sources and artifacts for comparative humanities studies |
| NYPL Digital Collections | Images, maps, manuscripts, and ephemera from New York Public Library | Primary sources in art, design, history, and urban studies |
Trade publications are professional resources that are essentially magazines written by professionals in a field for other professionals in the field. They do not go through the peer-review process the way traditional research articles do, but this means they are often more current in content and still provide important context to topics within a field.
Trade publications are still a vital resource in the field of humanities. They are an excellent source of background information on new and upcoming topics and can even lead you to those meatier research articles you will need for the rest of your research.
Below you will find some examples of trade publications, or where to find them, that are relevant to research in humanities.
| Publication | Focus / Audience | Use in Research & Teaching |
|---|---|---|
| The Chronicle of Higher Education | Higher education news, policy, academic careers | Stay updated on trends in the humanities and academia |
| Inside Higher Ed | University teaching, faculty issues, liberal arts updates | Explore debates in the field, policy changes, and job market news |
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