B301: The Crusades
Background information
For an introduction to an event, person or topic, plus recommended reading, or for quick fact checks, consult the Encyclopaedia Britannica (this is the full version, not the free web version), the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and two collections of online reference books, Oxford Reference Online (which includes the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages) and Blackwell Reference Online. For more excellent topic-specific resources, visit the Wells Library Reference Reading Room, where you'll find:
Finding books on your topic
Use IUCAT to search the IU Libraries collections. You may find it helpful to use the Advanced Keyword search, which allows you to combine keywords with subject terms and to limit your results to materials in English. Some related subject terms:
You can also use the Begins with (browse) search to browse subject headings starting with crusades--this is a good way to find out what the Library has on a specific crusade or related topic.
You can search the fulltext of millions of books through Google Books and HathiTrust Digital Library. This works best with very specific keywords (a specific individual, the title of a medieval work, etc.--don't forget to put phrases in quotes).
Finding scholarly articlesUse the resources on the Libraries' Medieval Studies resource page, especially International Medieval Bibliography and Iter: Gateway to the Middle Ages and Renaissance. These two online indexes cover thousands of scholarly journals in Medieval Studies. Tip: Iter doesn't have direct links to full text. Use the Libraries' online journal search to find journal articles, or search IUCAT for books. For scholarly research about post-medieval views of the Crusades, search Historical Abstracts for history-related topics, MLA International Bibliography for literature, International Political Science Abstracts for political topics, or check the list of Resources by Subject for additional suggestions. If your topic focuses on religion, try ATLA Religion Database. This covers all time periods, so if you're looking for articles about the middle ages, include (medieval or middle ages) as part of your search. For Islamic topics, use the resources on the Libraries' Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies page, especially Index Islamicus, an online index to research in Islamic Studies.
If you're having trouble finding anything on a very specific topic--an individual, one particular battle, etc--you might have good luck searching JSTOR. This is a giant fulltext database of scholarly journals. Searches for specific, unique keywords work well; searches for broad terms like crusades won't yield useful results.
Finding (and using) ImagesCopyright issues: in general, any offline, non-commercial educational use of an image (such as your assignment in this course) is considered "fair use." You will, however, need to keep good notes about the sources of the images you use, since you will need to cite/credit them in your final project.
Image resolution: many online sources for images provide only low-resolution images. These will look fine on a web page, but you won't be able to use them for your exhibit. If you're having trouble finding appropriate images online, consider scanning images from a printed source (just remember that you can only use these images for offline, educational purposes). The Fine Arts Library has an amazing collection of books full of gorgeous, high quality images.
ARTstor Images is a huge collection of over 1 million images from museums, libraries and other cultural institutions. IUB students may use these images offline for any non-commercial educational purpose. To download images, you must register for a (free) account. Remember to use your indiana.edu email when creating your account. Downloaded images are a maximum of 1024 x 1024 pixels, 96 dpi, but you can zoom in on details and dowload those at the same resolution (this will make more sense when you try it yourself).
CAMIO RLG's Catalog of Art Museum Images Online is a similar, smaller collection with about 100,000 images. IUB students may download these images for any non-commercial educational purpose.
CORSAIR Images from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts is a large searchable collection of images from the Pierpont Morgan Library. Unfortunately, these are only available as low-resolution images, unless you contact the Pierpont Morgan for special permission. However, this could be a good way to identify images, which you may be able to find in other sources (such as books).
See the Fine Arts Library's Image Resources pages for more image sources.
This Medieval studies portal may help you find other sites with good images or useful information:
The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies
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