Finding your materials, part
9:
.........Assess your bibliography
Assess your bibliography to be
sure that it's balanced and has a wide enough range of sources.
And remember that an experienced reader will look at your bibliography
before reading your paper--just as you yourself did when
assessing books for their possible value to your project.
Here is a list of things to consider
when assessing your bibliography:
- Number of sources.
Your professor will guide
you on the required length of your bibliography, but as a rule
of thumb figure that for a carefully researched 15-20 page paper
at least about 10-15 sources will be appropriate. For a five-to
eight page paper, five sources will be appropriate. Remember
that these are sources you actually use in your paper.
- Range of materials. Be sure that
you've searched broadly enough. For example, if you're working
with some aspect of Minoan art, your bibliography would be too
narrow if you listed 10 works, all of which had some variation
of "The Art of Crete" as their titles.
Depending on your paper topic, you might want to broaden your
bibliography by adding a works on (for example) symbolism, religion
/ mythology, architecture, biography, methods of making works
of art, methods of archaeology, and also one or more sources
on the culture of the period you're exploring.
- Dates. Be aware
of when your sources were published, and balance good older sources
with more recent ones to be sure that your information isn't
out of date. Remember that the information in most books will
be "current" about 10 years before the date of publication--for
more recent books this time will be less. For example, a book
published in 1975 will probably be current for information that
was cutting edge in 1965. Reason: It takes time to write and
publish a book. This is where recent journal articles can be
very helpful: as your project solidifies, you can use a focused
database search with a limited date range to check out the
most recent info on various topics.
- In general, you should AVOID
encyclopedia articles in select (or selected) bibliography of
your completed paper [See below
for definition of "select bibliography."]. Encyclopedia articles are fine to consult
for an overview, and to use for "snowballing."
However, including in the bibliography of your completed paper
articles (for example) from the Encyclopedia Britannica
or Oxford Art Online is a red flag that you've been lazy
in your research. There are exceptions to this rule, for example,
the very useful Dictionary of the History of Ideas, which
contains articles by leading experts in their fields.
- Some tempting Internet resources
that are fine for getting an overview and for snowballing,
but inappropriate for a term paper. Sites such as smarthistory, Khan Academy, and the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History and art
history related news articles and videos are excellent for getting
an overview, deepening your understanding of works discussed
in class--and for "snowballing," but are NOT appropriate
for a term paper bibliography. As is true of encyclopedia articles,
they are a STARTING POINT, not a final destination. Except in
unusual circumstances--such as a study of the methods of online
art history overviews--to use these as major sources for your
paper is (like the use of encyclopedia articles) a red flag that
you've been lazy in your research.
.
- Internet sources.
Be sure that you evaluate Internet sources carefully for reliability.
Some are excellent; many are unreliable. Altho it's fine to use
even an unreliable resource for "snowballing,"
a bibliography consisting almost entirely of websites will
probably not be an adequate one. Barnet presents valuable
criteria to use when evaluating a website on page 289 of the
11th edition of A Short Guide to Writing About Art
- One or more original works
of art may be on in your bibliography. If you choose an original work of art, it is especially
appropriate to use one that you will be able to study in person.
- Textbooks are normally NOT
considered appropriate as a major source in your bibliography.
Unless you are using
a textbook to double-check information you'd like to treat as
"common knowledge,"
inclusion of your course textbook in the bibliography screams
out that you haven't really done your homework.
- "Selected" or "Select"
bibliography. When assembling
the final draft of your bibliography there's no need to cite
everything you looked at in developing your project. Be sure
to include everything that you include in footnotes in your final
draft. But there's no need to mention sources that you used only
for "snowballing."
This is where using the terms "selected" or "select"
along with "Bibliography" is very useful, as it indicates
that you are citing the most significant works that you consulted.
- As your Select (or Selected)
Bibliography gets longer, you may find it helpful to divide it
into sections. At the
beginning of your bibliography put a short introductory paragraph
stating that you've organized your bibliography under the following
headings: a) ... b) ... c) ... and so forth. The ellipses [...]
indicate the place you'll put the titles of your choice
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