Research Without Borders: East Asian, European, Latin American, South Asian, and Slavic Studies
- Identify and locate all the available tools of scholarship for a specific disciplinary, geographical, or research area.
- Explore the history of and current theoretical trends in international area studies in general; and the organization of information and resources on East Asian/European/Latin American/Slavic/South Asian area studies in particular.
- Develop expertise in evaluating scholarly evidence; assessing the usefulness and quality of scholarship on a topic; and situating results within the history of intellectual traditions and debates of a particular field of study.
- Learn systematic techniques for the bibliographic organization and description of scholarly evidence.
- Integrate research and analysis into individual written expression and the scholarly communication process
In this upper-level, semester-long course, students draw on the diverse regional and disciplinary expertise of seven subject librarians from the International and Area Studies Department of Perkins Library and the wealth of Duke University Libraries' international collections to explore the organization of information in the field of area studies and the sources and principles of research in both the Humanities and the Social Sciences. The overall goal of the course is to assure that students will be confident, informed, and resourceful in the critical analysis, design, and conduct of research in their areas of regional and disciplinary specialization.
This is a hands-on course involving both practical exercises and substantive research. Classes are held in a computer-equipped classroom and structured in both plenary sessions and in break-out groups organized by geographic area of specialization. Each weekly session is divided into two parts: (1) a general lecture, tour, demonstration, or discussion, informed by assigned readings; and (2) a skills-based portion, comprised of practical exercises on aspects of locating and evaluating library materials for the student's research topic. The plenary sessions of the course are open to anyone interested in the topic or research tools listed on the course syllabus. Students will be graded on the degree to which they succeed in fulfilling the following requirements:
- Preparation for and participation in class discussion.
- Quality and timeliness in the completion of weekly graded and un-graded assignments, including an initial learning inventory and a running research journal detailing the student's experience during the research process.
- In-class oral presentation of final scholarly product on Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008.
- Written scholarly product that demonstrates the ability to explain the major debates in the student’s field of study; to identify the principle arguments and proponents, and to provide a historical overview of these debates. The final product can be a reading list for comprehensive exams, dissertation research- or fellowship proposal, conference paper, bibliographic essay, or website, and must be turned in by Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008.
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