Jewish Studies Majors Research Skills

What Should Jewish Studies Majors Know?

Upon graduation, majors in Jewish Studies should:

1. understand the broad contours of Jewish civilization, from its origins to the present;
2. have advanced knowledge in a specific area within Jewish Studies as a result of a concentration within the major;
3. have a working facility in modern Hebrew;
4. understand how scholars of Jewish Studies conduct research and access information.

The Program in Jewish Studies maintains an up-to-date website (http://www.smith.edu/jud) with links to search engines, libraries, archives, institutes, and other information literacy resources. Students of Jewish Studies should familiarize themselves with its contents and gradually work their way through its various links in order to introduce themselves to the wide body of resources available to scholars in the field.

Writing Intensive Classes

Students who have fulfilled the writing intensive requirement should already have learned basic information literacy skills prior to entering the major in Jewish Studies. Such skills are likely to include:

• the ability to know how and when to acknowledge and cite a source in the proper scholarly format;
• the ability to evaluate with confidence the reliability of a source;
• a familiarity with the reference resources of the library;
• an understanding of how scholars identify the kinds of information they need and where to find it.

For a description of basic information literacy skills required of all students before entering the major, click here.

Language

Modern Hebrew

Students completing JUD 100y, our required course in Elementary Modern Hebrew, should be able to:

• consult standard reference works, such as a modern Hebrew-English dictionary and a thesaurus. These may include:
  

  Title	Call Number
  Oxford Dictionary: English-Hebrew/Hebrew-English	SC/Neilson ref PJ 4833 .O9 1996
  Zilberman, The Up-To-Date English-Hebrew Hebrew-English Dictionary	SC/Neilson ref PJ 4833 .Z552 2001
  Alcalay, The Complete Hebrew-English and English-Hebrew Dictionary	SC/Neilson ref PJ 4833 .A4 1981

• consult basic grammars of the language, such as:
  

  Title	Call Number
  Hebrew Verb Tables/Luhot Pealim, ed. Tarmon-Uval	SC/Neilson ref PJ 4645 .Y3 1998
  Bolozky, 501 Hebrew Verbs	SC/Neilson ref PJ 4645 .B56 2008

Students continuing their study of through the intermediate and advanced levels will gradually be expected to consult:

Biblical (Classical Hebrew)

Students studying Biblical (classical) Hebrew will incrementally familiarize themselves with:

Yiddish

Students studying Yiddish will incrementally familiarize themselves with the following dictionaries and grammars:

Basis Course (JUD/REL 225) in Jewish Civilization

Students completing the required basis of the major able to:

• understand varying methodologies through which scholars approach the study of Jews and Judaism;
• identify canonical texts and major figures and thinkers of Jewish civilization, from the ancient period until today;
• understand the central tenets of Judaism as a religion;
• appreciate major historical transformations within Jewish civilization;
• identify the ways in which contacts with other empires, peoples, nations, religions, and civilizations have transformed the course of Jewish civilization.

Students in the basis course are not expected to conduct extensive outside research. Emphasis is placed on learning to establish skills in close reading and critical thinking.

Students in JUD/REL 225 will familiarize themselves with the following basic resources:

Students of Jewish Civilization might also find helpful the following general works and surveys as they progress in their studies:

Intermediate and Advanced Courses

Students in intermediate and advanced Jewish Studies courses are expected to familiarize themselves with relevant scholarly journals of Jewish Studies. Examples of interdisciplinary journals in Jewish studies include:

Students in Intermediate and Advanced Jewish Studies courses will gradually learn to use the following search engines:

Students in Intermediate and Advanced Jewish Studies courses will familiarize themselves with reference works specifically tailored to the focus of their course. Individual instructors will provide students with relevant reference works. Examples of these might include:

300 Level Courses and Research-Based Special Studies

Students in advanced research courses should be able to:

• Identify a compelling research topic that forces them to engage with primary and secondary materials at an advanced level;
• locate and effectively use scholarly sources that allow them to demonstrate a familiarity with the secondary literature and stake out a position in relation to it.

General Information Literacy

The Jacobson Center offers guidance on proper methods of scholarly citation. Students should also consult the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholary Publishing and The Chicago Manual of Style, both of which can be found on the Libraries' Citation Guides & Style Manuals page.

The library offers students a great deal of guidance in how to find information and conduct research. Though the information above highlights some of the general resources in Jewish Studies, our students would also benefit greatly from familiarizing themselves with general search engines that often include articles of interest to Jewish Studies. These include:

Ethical Issues

A central tenet of responsible research is the ethical use of information. This requires you to always cite your sources accurately, whether you are quoting directly or paraphrasing a document. Jewish Studies professors expect students to be able to cite their sources clearly, using one of the accepted scholarly methods (MLA, Chicago).  

Students are reminded not to deface library books or to remove pages from books.

For more information on ethical use of information, see the Statement on Academic Honor Code Infractions in the college’s student handbook.

May 4, 2009