Early Civilizations
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Finding & Focusing a Topic: Encyclopedias, Companions & General Histories
The Library has a large number of subject specific online encyclopedias with short, well-written overview essays. These essays can be helpful in defining and focusing a topic. They generally have bibliographies which include the important authors who have published on the subject. The Library has too many encyclopedias to list them all. To discover encyclopedias with essays on your topic, go to the catalog, select Articles & more, type keywords which describe your topic into the searchbox and select the format facet Reference on the results screen (see screenshot below) or browse selected encyclopedias on the History Subject Guide.
- Encyclopedia of Ancient History
Geographic coverage: ancient Near East, pharaonic Egypt, classical Greece, Roman empire. - Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery
Vol. 1: 2,000 B.C. - 699 A.D.
Learn about calendars, mathematics, medicine, architecture, agriculture and more of ancient civilizations. - Daily Life in ... [ancient civilizations] Series
The Library has volumes about daily life in Mayan, Aztec, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Babylonian society. - Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences
Vol. 3: Origins, 4,200 BCE - 529 CE, pp. 45-497
Learn about calendars, wheels, numerals, papyri, clay and more of ancient civilizations.
Books
Keyword and subject searches in the Library's catalog are good starting points when first exploring a topic. Search results can be narrowed with facets such as topic, era, language or region. Facets are located on the right hand side of the results screen.
Examples of Library of Congress subjects:WorldCat (OCLC)
Indus script
Indus civilization
Mathematics, Chinese
Mayas - Calendar
Agriculture - Origin
Examples of keyword searches:
architecture and Mesopotamia
Mayas and writing
E-ZBorrow and Interlibrary Loan
Journal Articles
JSTOR is an archive of important core journals in the humanities. Current content is not available. JSTOR indicates which years are covered.
The Advanced Search feature has journal limits by discipline such as Classical Studies and Archaeology. You can further limit to keywords in title, abstract, or author field. Item type, language and publication date range are other available search limits.
Trying to decipher a journal abbreviation?
Check the journal abbreviations lists below for the full journal title:
Abbreviations for titles of Classical/Medieval Studies journals (Indiana University Libraries, based on L'Annee Philologique)
Bibliographical Abbreviations (compiled for the Egyptologists' Electronic Forum)
Library Catalog / Articles & more
Find scholarly journal articles by selecting Articles & more from the drop down menu of the Library's search box. Enter your keywords and limit search results to peer-reviewed journals and journal articles.
Citing Your Sources
The 16th edition of the standard style manual used by writers and editors of scholarly books and journals.
Available online and in print. For a quick introduction watch the online tutorial A Brief Introduction to the Chicago Manual of Style.
Use the Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide for easy reference.
Information desk copy: Z253.U69 2010
Make an appointment to meet with Jutta
I am happy to meet with you at any time, in person, by phone, or virtually via our chat service.
You can also email me directly.
Jutta Seibert610-519-7876
Jutta Seibert is the subject librarian for History and is available for research consultations, instruction, curricular support & purchase requests.
