LibGuides: GU-Q HIST-1601: Middle East Civilization I: Getting Started

Important Concepts and Tips

Getting Started
Concept - Secondary and Primary Sources

Use the online reference sources listed here to get brief background on your topic.

Look for important keywords, people, places and dates that you can use in subsequent searches.

Remember to follow the references/bibliography at the end of the pages to find more sources.

Online Resources to get started

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text online versions of general and subject dictionaries and encyclopedias.
Encyclopaedia of Islam (EI2) This link opens in a new window
The major scholarly encyclopedia in Islamic & Middle Eastern studies. This is a multi-volume work containing signed articles on all aspects of the Islamic world: religious, biographical, historical, and social.
Short bibliographies of classical works accompany signed articles. Many articles in the new editions (EI2 & EI3) have been revised and updated. The second edition is now complete. See Transliteration table for Brill OnlineTransliteration table for Brill Online to see how words in Arabic & other non-roman script languages are romanized.

The first edition, now published as E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936, is also useful. Sister titles: Encyclopaedia of Islam Three (EI3), Encyclopaedia Islamica (in progress), Encyclopedia of the Qur'an.

All Brill encyclopedias (EI2, EI3, Ency. of the Qur'an, Ency. Islamica, Ency. of Women & Islamic Cultures, Ency. of Jews in the Islamic World, etc.) can be searched at one time by selecting "Related Publications" on the search page.
Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE (EI3) This link opens in a new window
Newest edition of Ency. of Islam (still in progress). Edited by Gudrun Kramer, et al.
"with new articles reflecting the great diversity of current scholarship... The new scope includes comprehensive coverage of Islam in the twentieth century and of Muslim minorities all over the world."
All Brill encyclopedias (EI2, EI3, Ency. of the Qur'an, Ency. Islamica, Ency. of Women & Islamic Cultures, Ency. of Jews in the Islamic World, etc.) can be searched at one time by selecting "Related Publications" on the search page.
See Transliteration table for Brill Online to see how words in Arabic & other non-roman script languages are romanized.
Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an (EQ) This link opens in a new window
Almost 1,000 entries cover the concepts, personalities, place names, and cultural history of the Qur'an. Includes extended essays on the most important themes of Qur'anic studies. Print edition complete in 6 vols.
Call number:
LAU Ref Stacks BP133 .E53 2001
See Transliteration table for Brill Online to see how Arabic (etc.) words are romanized. Continuously updated in electronic version. Sister titles: Encyclopaedia of Islam, Encyclopaedia Islamica.
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Provides online, full text access to Gale subject encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Includes Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History; Encyclopaedia Judaica; Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy; Encyclopedia of American Industries; Encyclopedia of American Religions; Encyclopedia of Bioethics; Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security; Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology; Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World; Encyclopedia of Population; Encyclopedia of Religion; Encyclopedia of Sociology; Encyclopedia of the American Constitution; Environmental Encyclopedia; Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America; Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology; New Catholic Encyclopedia; New Catholic Encyclopedia Jubilee Volume; New Dictionary of the History of Ideas; St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture; and West's Encyclopedia of American Law.

Primary Sources

A primary source provides direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, person, or work of art. Primary sources include:

sources
documents
historical and legal documents
statistical data
eyewitness accounts (Newspaper articles sometimes are in this category)
pieces of creative writing
audio and video recordings
speeches
interviews (if the interviewee experienced the event as an eyewitness)
correspondence
diaries
letters

Learn More: Primary Sources from Yale University
Description of the various types of primary resources with examples

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources describe, discuss, interpret, comment upon, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and process primary sources. Secondary source materials can be articles in newspapers or popular magazines, book or movie reviews, or articles found in scholarly journals that discuss or evaluate someone else's original research.

What is a Monograph?

A monograph is a specialist work of writing or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject

GU-Q HIST-1601: Middle East Civilization I

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Important Concepts and Tips

Online Resources to get started