LibGuides: ANS 340 / ANT 324 / HIS 364 / RS 321: History of Hindu Religious Traditions: Getting Started

Getting Started

Identifying a topic for your research can be the hardest part. Think about what interests you, why it interests you, what you'd like to learn more about. If you need some inspiration, good starting places to explore include encyclopedias and bibliographies.

Wikipedia
Most current edition. Unlimited users.
Updated continually. A multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project based on an openly editable model. The name "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Select the "subject" of Hinduism...
These Bibliographies provide an authoritative guide to the current scholarship, expert recommendations and authoritative commentary on the best works available in the discipline covered, making them particularly useful for anyone beginning research.
UT Austin has access to the all bibliographies in all subject areas.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History
Coverage varies. Unlimited.
The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History is a dynamic online research encyclopedia which provides access to state-of-the-art research and also connects readers to the full range of internet resources for research and teaching, including audio, visual, video materials, digitized archives, and other primary sources. Articles are written by professional historians and independent scholars from around the world and their essays provide a comprehensive overview of each subject and a brief historiography; entries are periodically updated in response to feedback from readers and new developments in the field.

Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Volume One by Helene Basu (Editor); Angelika Malinar (Editor); Vasudha Narayanan (Editor); Knut A. Jacobsen (Editor-In-Chief)
ISBN: 9789004176416
Publication Date: 2009-09-24
Hindu World by Benjamin Walker
ISBN: 0429624212
Publication Date: 2019-04-09
Encyclopedia of Hinduism by Constance A. Jones; James D. Ryan
ISBN: 1438141769
Publication Date: 2016-12-01
Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia by Bryan S. Turner (Editor); Oscar Salemink (Editor)
ISBN: 1317636457
Publication Date: 2014-09-25
A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism by Klaus K. Klostermaier
ISBN: 1780746725
Publication Date: 2014-10-01
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism by James G. Lochtefeld
ISBN: 0823922871
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India by Knut A. Jacobsen (Editor)
ISBN: 1315682575
Publication Date: 2015-08-11

Choosing Your Research Topic

Start by brainstorming some potential topics to explore further.

Look through your syllabus or textbook for themes, concepts, or ideas that interest you, even if you haven't covered them in class yet.
Search the topic or name of your course in Google or a library article database. Check out any results that look interesting.
Think about your major or your hobbies. Do any of your personal interests overlap with the topic of the class?

Now that you have a potential topic in mind, find out a little more about it to make sure it will work for you.

Search for background information to get a general overview of the topic.
Sometimes what you find is not what you expected. Make sure the topic still sounds interesting, since you'll be spending a lot of time reading and writing about it.

Gale eBooks
Find general facts and overviews in encyclopedias, almanacs, reference sources
Updated regularly. A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources. Fully searchable across all files.

For more information on ebooks see the Ebook Guide

Check library databases, such as our main library search bar or Academic Search Complete, to see if journalists or scholars have written about your topic in the popular press or academic journals.

Library search bar - advanced search
The advanced search version of the search bar on the library homepage. Use options on the left side bar to limit to particular types of materials or by date.

Academic Search Complete
Multi-disciplinary full-text database
Updated daily. A comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full text database, with more than 5,300 full text periodicals, including 4,400 peer-reviewed journals. Offers indexing and abstracts for more than 9,300 journals and a total of 10,900 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
Features PDF content going back as far as 1865, with the majority of full text titles in native (searchable) PDF format. Searchable cited references are provided for 1,000 journals.

Finally, you'll need to find the right scope for your topic. If it is too broad or too narrow, you may have difficulty covering it adequately in the length assigned for your research project.

Too broad - if you found too many results when testing the topic, you might need to choose a specific aspect to focus on. Try looking back in your background information for particular details that interest you.
Too narrow - if you had trouble finding any relevant information in a library database, think more broadly about the topic and what interests you. What are the larger concepts or ideas that your topic falls under?