ENGL 126 Research Writing: Humanities (Bones)

Words to try

If you aren't sure what word to type in to find a "first," you might try:

  • original
  • first
  • important
  • iconic
  • ground-breaking
  • award-winning
  • pioneer*
  • leading
  • trend-setting
  • ahead of its time
  • key
  • forerunner
  • contribution
  • important
  • innovative

You can also try adding a who and what. For example: 

  • groundbreaking women writers 
  • iconic poems
  • important AND literature AND asian american 
  • literary firsts

Browse for Topic Ideas of Firsts in the Humanities

Browse for ideas and explore possible topics in Holman Library's collection of subject encyclopedias & other research tools on this page. 

Strategy 1: If you have a text or creator in mind
  • Search for a specific work or artist and read an overview to see if they are known for being or creating a "first" with a text that broke new ground or approached existing cultural expression in a new way. 
Strategy 2: Explore ideas with general keywords
  • Step 1: Type in a keyword for a genre, movement, discipline, or field, such as television shows, popular culture, photography, science fiction, architecture, literature, modernism, hip hop, etc.
  • Step 2: Type in a who, if you want to narrow your focus. For ex: "women photographers"
  • Step 3: Try a second search by adding a keyword that captures the idea of a "first." For ex: original, first, ground-breaking, award-winning, pioneer*, leading, trend-setting, ahead of its time, key, forerunner, contribution, important, innovation, ...

The example below connects "women photographers" AND (ground-breaking OR first OR original OR pioneer*) 

Strategy 3: Browse eras or decades
  • Browse by decade or cultural era to get an overview of the intersection of culture and history.
Strategy 4: Browse through resources in specific humanities fields for names/ texts
  • then circle back to strategy 1 above

Explore Books by Subject in Holman Library

One sure way to determine if a text has gained scholarly attention is to find a library book about it!

The links below open a list of library items by subject. You can also try browsing the library's shelves, which of course are organized by subject, with the call numbers below. Our collection of hundreds of thousands of ebooks and over 60,000 print titles should provide lots of inspiration! Here are a few starting places:

Explore Online Resources for Ideas

Use the library's Biography in Context.

With over 450,000 biographies, it can help you find possible topics.

Three ways to find ideas:

1. Type in the name of an individual in the Humanities. 

2. Select Browse People and then limit it to an occupation (many areas in the arts and humanities) from the drop-down arrow (shown immediately below).

3. Select Person Search at the top and then use limiters to get a list of names of people in the humanities who fit those categories. For ex: artists, painters AND American AND women (shown in the second shot below).

OR Person Search:

Gale Literature Database

Browse literature database: Gale Literature

Look for ideas in the Holman Library literature (plus a little film) database. 

If you don't have a text in mind, browse by author.

If you don't have an author or text in mind, try a broad search.

  • For example: African American women writers.
    • Limit to Topic & Work Overviews to explore ideas.

Holman Library One Search

Searching the library's collection

Use the search box below to search for books, ebooks, videos, articles, and more!

Explore on the Web

Google Web Search