Researching the history of premodern China
HIST 009A
Simon Elichko (they/them)
Social Sciences & Data Librarian
What we'll discuss:
- Journals, publishers, and making sense of citations
- Best practices for finding scholarly research
Journal Article
Book
Journal Articles
Hao, Yu, Zhengcheng Liu, Xi Weng, and Li-an Zhou. "The Making of Bad Gentry: The Abolition of Keju, Local Governance, and Anti-Elite Protests, 1902–1911." The Journal of Economic History 82, no. 3 (2022): 625-661.
Citation elements for a journal article:
Author(s). Title of Article. Journal Title. Volume Number, Issue Number: Page Numbers
Benjamin Elman, “Political, Social, and Cultural Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late Imperial China,” The Journal of Asian Studies 50, no. 1 (1991): pp. 7-28.
Books + Book Chapters
Citation elements for a book chapter:
Chapter Author, "Title of Chapter," in Editor(s), Book Title. Location: Publisher. Page Numbers.
Citation elements for a book:
Author(s) or Editor(s). Title of book. Location: Publisher. Year.
Yung Sik Kim and Francesca Bray (eds), Current Perspectives in the History of Science in East Asia, Seoul National University Press, 1999.
Bray, Francesca. "Instructive and nourishing landscapes: natural resources, people and the state in late imperial China," in Greg Bankoff and Peter Boomgaard (eds), The wealth of nature: how natural resources have shaped Asian history, 1600-2000, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007: 205-226.
Endymion Wilkinson, “How Do We Know What We Know about Chinese History?,” in A Companion to Chinese History, ed. Michael Szonyi (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2017), 11-27
Charles Sanft, “Environment and Law in Early Imperial China (Third Century BCE–First Century CE): Qin
and Han Statutes Concerning Natural Resources,” Environmental History 15, no. 4 (2010): 701–721.
Benjamin Elman, “Political, Social, and Cultural Reproduction via Civil Service Examinations in Late
Imperial China,” The Journal of Asian Studies 50, no. 1 (1991): pp. 7-28.
Hyunhee Park, “From Imperial Encounter to Maritime Trade: Chinese Understanding of the Islamic World, 750–1260,” in Mapping the Chinese and Islamic Worlds: Cross-Cultural Exchange in Pre-Modern Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 20-55.
Finding Scholarly Research
Best Practices:
- Search for sources using research tools like JSTOR
- Learn some strategies to improve your search results
- Evaluate your sources using tips from the research guide
Useful tools for finding
scholarly research
You can get links to JSTOR
and other databases here:
Research guide
for HIST 009A
Learn how to improve your searches
Searching for articles and books in JSTOR
- Go to JSTOR.org
- Search "silk road" china maps
- Use filters to limit your results to History journals
Search Tips
- phrase search: "silk road" vs. silk road
- proximity: silk NEAR 5 China vs. silk China
Evaluate your results using
tips from the research guide
Research help is available
-
Make an appointment with Simon: bit.ly/selichk1
-
Email selichk1@swarthmore.edu
- Other ways to get help:
- Email librarian@swarthmore.edu
- Chat help in Tripod
- Drop by the McCabe Research & Info Desk (staffed by librarians and RIAs)
HIST 009A: History of Premodern China
By Swarthmore Reference
