ITAL 343: Italian Culture Today: Home

• Library Catalog

  Discover books, journals, films, primary source collections, government documents, and other materials held at UNC and in the Triangle (you can request materials from Duke, NC State and NC Central) as well as a variety of open access publications.

• You can request most titles that UNC does not have through Interlibrary Loan. Carolina BLU uses the InterLibrary Loan (ILL) service to request materials from other campus libraries.

• Start with a keyword search in the catalog. Once you have located a relevant item, you can look at the Subjects in the record and follow those links to find related books.

  You can refine your results by using the facets on the left side of the screen. Use the "Available Online" filter to limit to materials that may be accessed remotely. Under "Resource Type" you can restrict your results to books, journals, or government documents.

• Keyword: Italian Politics
  • Associated Subject Heading: "Italy -- Politics and government -- 2018-"
  • Associated Subject Heading: "Italy -- Politics and government -- 1945-1976"
• Keyword: Italian Food 
  • Associated Subject Heading: "Cooking, Italian"
  • Associated Subject Heading: "Italy -- Social life and customs"

• To find primary resources, you can add keywords to your search, such as: letters, diaries, speeches, newspaper articles, autobiographies, oral histories, government and organizational records, statistical data, maps, photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings, advertisements, artifacts, etc. For additional information on primary resources, please consult this guide: Finding Primary Source Materials

You can search Articles+ AND the library’s catalog through our website here:  https://library.unc.edu/ 

You can find links to individual databases that may be helpful on the E-Research by Discipline page of our website

Searching for Sources Effectively

• Follow the Bibliographic Trail: One proven method for gathering reliable information efficiently is to follow the citations or references from one source to another. The author's bibliography can lead you to other sources on the topic
• Subject Headings: If you find an interesting title in the Library Catalog or article database, open the record and scroll down to alternate Subject Headings. Click on the link and it will take you to addional materials with the same subject/topic.
• Identify keywords: Before searching the Library Catalog or other databases, take a few minutes to write down all the words that describe your topic. Use these words and synonyms in keyword searches. 

Scholarly resources have the following features:

1. They are written by experts - look for an author's credentials or affiliations.

2. They are written for other experts or people in academia. Think of each scholarly work as a voice in an ongoing conversation to which you will add your voice when you write a paper. 

3. They use scholarly language with technical, discipline specific vocabulary.

4. They provide verifiable and reliable evidence for claims. Even if the resource is a general history/overview it will contain well researched information that the reader can verify.

5. They may be peer reviewed. Many journals go through an editorial process where other experts review and assess the information. 

Some databases will let you check a box to limit to peer reviewed articles. You can also look at the journal's website which will explain the editorial process including whether or not the journal is peer reviewed. 

What to look for:

• Bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, date, volume and issue number)
• Author credentials and affiliations (what and where of expertise) 
• An abstract stating a summary of the article
• Science and social science articles will most likely have an introduction, methodology (how research was conducted), results, discussion, and conclusion
• Notes, references, or works cited; This information is provided so readers know where the information was obtained, can verify sources, and/or use information for their own research. 

From California State University Library

Example of a scholarly article. 

• Information about the journal of publication.
• Information about the author's affiliation.
• The abstract is part of the article.
• It often includes an introduction, methodology, body of text, graphs and charts and a conclusion. 
• References or a bibliography are part of the article. 

https://writingcenter.unc.edu/