East Asian Studies Majors Research Skills

Skills for East Asian Studies Majors

The interdisciplinary program in East Asian Studies trains students in various approaches to the study of East Asia.  Through EAS courses in history, literature, art, religion, anthropology, and government, students learn a variety of disciplinary methodologies that  complement each other and amplify the student's understanding of her concentration.

Students will learn how to:

• Understand the cultural and historical context of texts
• Show a range of critical thinking across various sources (literary, historical, visual)
• Integrate varying bodies of knowledge (historical, sociological, literary, and philosophical)
• Recognize major scholars in their chosen concentration
• Engage in a research project that involves work with primary and secondary sources and is based on an original topic
• Create original arguments applying philosophical/theoretical concepts introduced in class
• Produce a literature review based on a specific research topic
• Perform basic background research 
• Use the Five College Library Catalog to locate known items, perform basic subject searches, and access print reserves
• Use library databases and interlibrary loan
• Understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it
• Appropriately acknowledge print and non-print sources using a standard citation format (e.g. MLA, Turabian, or Chicago

Key Sources for East Asian Studies

Below are some of the important references for research in East Asian Studies in the English language. For a more extensive listing, as well as sources in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages please see the Neilson Library Research Guide for East Asian Studies.

Background

Primary Sources

Core Journals

Other Important Journals

Research Databases

The following list provides some important research databases:

Ethical Use of Information

Information literacy demands a high level of understanding about the origin of the information and the integrity of use of that information. Original thought is the objective of the exercise, and creativity is prized. Therefore, it is necessary to be sensitive to the “ownership” of information and ideas. Plagiarism is often the inadvertant result of using information gathered during the research process. It is essential to remember that plagiarism is a serious violation of the College’s Honor Code. When using someone else’s words, ideas, or arguments, students must acknowledge their sources. It is important to identify and attribute all sources of new ideas, except for commonly shared knowledge, such as dates and facts found in encyclopedias and dictionaries. For more information on the College Honor Code, PLEASE CONSULT: http://www.smith.edu/sao/handbook/socialconduct/honorcode2.php

April 25, 2011