Oxford Bibliographies Online: One Great Tool for Backgrounds
Oxford Bibliographies Online Harvard Key
Academics often create something called subject bibliography -- a carefully curated, annotated list of the significant research and scholarship on a specific or broad topic.
When you're not sure what to read first or where to focus your attention, or who's most important in driving a research discussion, subject bibliographies can help you navigate more confidently through the scholarly literature.
Oxford Bibliographies Online is the great example of this genre. Here are some related to course themes that might be useful to you:
Primary Source Searching in HOLLIS
For persons, try words like:
- biography
- autobiography
- memoir
- personal narrative
- interview*
- correspondence (i.e., letters)
- diaries
For collective subjects or categories -- martial artists, surfing, calligraphy, for example, try keywords like:
- philosophy
- psychological aspects
- craft
- spiritual
- mindful*
