DS 264/764: Dimensions of Material Culture (Spring 2025) : Starting Your Research

1. Choose your object.

Think about the collections and objects you’ve studied and learned about this semester. On your own, explore online collections and university museums and choose one artifact that you would like to explore further.

2. Ask a question about this object.

An initial question you have about this artifact will be the starting point for your research, but you will likely develop more questions and ideas as you learn more about it. Create a list of questions to 'ask' the object in an object analysis. The key is to explore how your chosen artifact reveals meaningful stories through the lenses of diverse academic fields.

Questions might include:

“What material is the object? Why? How is this significant?”

• “What does the object do? How? When would have been used?”
• “How does the object compare to other material culture examples from the time period?”
• “What does this object reveal about the culture that produced it?"
• 3. How do I know if I’ve chosen a good artifact for this assignment? 

Consider Chipstone’s principles: - - - - - 

• You are led by curiosity and wonder 
• The work itself is engaging 
• You can craft an argument, a point-of-view 
• The final outcome fits into your larger goals 
•  

4. Use readings from your syllabus to find scholarly sources on the topic. Look at the bibliographies to find good citations, and then look up the material in the Library Catalog. THEN, generate some terms to help guide your search for secondary sources in the Library Catalog and in the article databases provided in this guide.

Examples of search terms might include:

 history AND [name of object]

 culture AND [name of object]

4. Pull lots of sources and look at the bibliographies of helpful material. Remember you can request items from off-campus.

5. Remember to also search for articles using similar keywords (or perhaps more specific). Use this LibraryGuide for database suggestions.