Library Guides: HM 460 Research and Writing in the Humanities: Course Resources

Online Reference

Research tip: When you start researching a new topic, a good starting point is to use reference sources.

Here you can access directly one of the reference databases available through the library website:

Credo Reference

Credo Reference is a general reference resource containing reference entries in a wide variety of dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopaedias, quotations and atlases.

Bibliographies

Research tip: when you start a research process, you may find useful to find a list of readings on a published bibliography.

Here you can find some online bibliographies available through ACLS Humanities E-book:

Other Libraries

Outside of our library you may also find good and specialized collections pertinent to the humanities.

URBS OPAC
URBS library consortium is a non-profit cultural association with members from various academic and research institutions present in Rome, Italy and active in the field of the humanities. The collections in the libraries participating into the network are specialized in archaeology, history, history of art and architecture, philology, church history, law and social sciences.
URBiS
The URBiS Library Network supports and promotes excellence in research by providing coordinated access to resources in the social sciences and the humanities through an international library network based in Rome.

You may also want to explore collections of ecclesiastic libraries in Rome: use the link below and browse their network catalog:

URBE
Roman Union of Ecclesiastic Libraries (website in Italian).

In order to further expand your searches, try also the Italian Union Catalog:

Sbn Catalog (Libraries in Italy)
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The National Library Service (SBN) is the Italian libraries network promoted by the Ministry of Culture in cooperation with Regions and Universities, with the coordination of the Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and for Bibliographic Information (ICCU).

Check our guide with detailed information about Italian and international libraries in Rome:

Libraries in Rome
This guide will provide you with information about Italian and International Libraries in Rome, which collections may be of interest for your assignments.

Organize Your Sources

Bibliographic Managers are specialized tools that allow you to store and organize bibliographic citations from which you can then create bibliographies.

Zotero
It is an open source bibliographic manager that works with your Firefox web browser. It automatically captures citation information from a wide variety of web sites, library catalogs, and databases. There is also a standalone version that works as any other software application.

Zotero Guide
by Nicoletta Romano Last Updated Nov 12, 2025 133 views this year

Mendeley
It is a free reference manager and PDF organizer.

Additional

Source Evaluation
Here you can find guidelines you may follow, in order to be able to evaluate your sources and select reliable and academic sources for your paper or presentation.
Academia.edu

The Modern Researcher by Jacques Barzun; Henry F. Graff
ISBN: 9780155055292

Publication Date: 2003-10-08

This classic introduction to the techniques of research and the art of expression is used widely in history courses, but is also appropriate for writing and research methods courses in other departments. Barzun and Graff thoroughly cover every aspect of research, from the selection of a topic through the gathering, analysis, writing, revision, and publication of findings presenting the process not as a set of rules but through actual cases that put the subtleties of research in a useful context. Part One covers the principles and methods of research; Part Two covers writing, speaking, and getting one's work published.

Tools for Researchers

ORCID
The ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a nonproprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify authors and contributors of scholarly communication. ORCID's website and services to look up authors and their bibliographic output (and other user-supplied pieces of information).
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.
Plumx
PlumX is a web-based tool that provides data on the use and impact of research and scholarly products.
Harzing's Publish or Perish
Publish or Perish is a software program that retrieves and analyzes academic citations.