Introduction
Often the best way to approach a very specific topic is to start with the broader subject. This can give you important context for your question, background information, concepts you may not have considered and, in some cases, lists of recommended resources.
Subject encyclopedias, bibliographies and handbooks
- Oxford Bibliographies OnlineOffers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on a wide range of topics. Entries are regularly updated.
Recommended entries:
- The Contemporary Maya (Yucatan)
- Race in American Political Thought (re: black nationalism)
- Autonomy: Relevance to Bioethics
- Sound studies
- Latina/o Americans in Film and Television
- Photojournalism
- One Country, Two Systems (Hong Kong)
- Encyclopedia of Race and RacismSee entry: "Inequality: Japan."
- BioethicsSee entry on "Autonomy"
- The Oxford Handbook of Public History'Public history is a large and complex field, with boundaries, methods, and subjects that are hotly debated. This handbook reflects the complexities of the subject, while at the same time helping to shape it. It introduces the major debates within public history; the methods and sources that comprise a public historian’s toolkit; and exemplary examples of practice. The book views public history as a dynamic process combining the hands-on skills of historical research and a wide range of work with and for the public, informed by a conceptual context. It defines public history work as analytical and active—practical work informed by thoughtful reflection—and locates public history as a professional practice within an intellectual framework that is increasingly democratic, technological, and transnational." [publisher]
- The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship"This Handbook surveys the state of the art in literary authorship studies. Its 27 original contributions by eminent scholars offer a multi-layered account of authorship as a defining element of literature and culture. Covering a vast chronological range, Part I considers the history of authorship from cuneiform writing to contemporary digital publishing; it discusses authorship in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, early Jewish cultures, medieval, Renaissance, modern, postmodern and Chinese literature. The second part focuses on the place of authorship in literary theory, and on challenges to theorizing literary authorship, such as gender and sexuality, postcolonial and indigenous contexts for writing. Finally, Part III investigates practical perspectives on the topic, with a focus on attribution, anonymity and pseudonymity, plagiarism and forgery, copyright and literary property, censorship, publishing and marketing and institutional contexts." [publisher]