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THE HISTORY OF EARLY MODERN JAPAN
ASSEMBLING A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY
Pulling together such a bibliography (and submitting it in a appropriate written format) serves to demonstrate your mastery of basic library and computer-based research skills and should help you as well to focus your research project on a topic both "do-able" and "significant" enough to warrent the effort to be expended completing the assignment.
The WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY assembled in this instance must contain a MINIMUM of six sources, including at least one appropriate example of each of the following: a book, a scholarly article and a web site.
DO NOT INCLUDE any of the following in your WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY: encyclopedia articles, general text book titles, articles from popular periodicals (such as Time and Newsweek). Moreover be sure that each item listed is directly relevent to the research topic you have identified.
Don't, for instance, list general surveys of Buddhist religious beliefs that include discussions of China, Southeast Asia and Tibet if you are focusing only on eighteenth century Japanese Buddhist practices. It is assumed that you may well use all the above resources in your actual research but none should be incorporated in your WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY. Remember that the entire point of the exercise is to demonstrate that you can accomplish the research task you have set for yourself, not merely locate useful information on your chosen topic.
In constructing your bibliography, look at titles found in the bibliographies in the books listed as part of this assignment. Consult suggestions made in encyclopedia articles (those in the Kodansha Enclyclopedia of Japan are excellent) and general textbooks. Feel free to include book chapters from larger works (by specific title) if appropriate to your subject. Be as exhaustive in your investigations as you can be -- and be sure to note where, exactly, you found the information in the first place (so that you can actually locate it once you need it).
Don't be limited by resources available at the Cleveland State University Library. Use OHIOLINK to locate materials found at other Ohio colleges and university -- all can be obtained via interlibrary loan in a matter of days. The John G. White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library is one of the best collections of materials on Asia anywhere in the United States; don't overlook it either!
Submit you completed WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY togeher with a description of your RESEARCH TOPIC CHOICE to the instructor NO LATER THAN Tuesday, February 19, 2008.