NU Library Research Guides: Modern & Classical Languages: SPA 305

From Topic to Research Question

Historic Comprehension

Research (Facts)

Find:

primary sources
- artifacts
scholarly articles
books

Evaluate:

Who is the author?
What is the source?
Who was involved?
What happened?
- Where/when?
What led to this?
What happened because of this?
What historical questions does it answer?

Tools to Use

MLA Bibliography (via EBSCOhost) This link opens in a new window
MLA provides more than 2.8 million references in the fields of language and literature and now also includes more than 1,000 full-text journals.
ProQuest This link opens in a new window
This multidisciplinary database system provides access to magazines, journal articles, newspapers, ebooks, and dissertations.
Wiley Online Library This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to scholarly articles in 1300+ journals.
EBSCOhost This link opens in a new window
Usually the first place to start your research, this multidisciplinary database system provides access to magazines, journal articles, and to a lesser extent, newspapers.
NoodleTools This link opens in a new window
Integrated tools for note-taking, outlining, citation, document archiving/annotation, and collaborative research and writing.

Example

Third of May, 1808 by Francisco Goya

Historical Analysis

Cause & Effect (Interpretation)

What does it mean?:

Why was it produced or created?
What was the culture of the period in which it was made?
- political,
- economic,
- and social aspects
Did the meaning/perception of it change over time?
- compare perspectives from multiple views

Objective Summary

NOT influenced by feelings or opinions.

Shows you deeply understand
Details, but just the important ones
Does not include personal interpretation

Examples given by the professor:

Your professor has expressed the importance in the creation of "How does a particular cultural product represents/exemplifies/relates to a bigger cultural phenomenon?" or "focus on a particular aspect of the theme and examine its impact on/relationship to another aspect of Spanish culture."

The relationship of Gaudí’s modernism, or maybe even one of his structures like the Sagrada familia, and Catalan Nationalism. Paper could discuss modernism, his works in general, and then go more into one of his specific works, and then analyze how that work exemplifies/relates to Catalan nationalism.
Catalan Nationalism: Not simply a report about the history, but in fact, a brief synopsis of the history to a more specific example of it and examine its relevance in contemporary Catalonian culture.
Picasso: Guernica and its' social impact or focus on cubism and what it meant in Spain at the time that it emerged.
Third of May, 1808: How did that painting represented the unique nature of the Spanish war of independence against the French?