Enrica Salvatori - Simona Turbanti (UNIPI) Horizontal teaching activity for PhD.

1. Research methodologies
Enrica Salvatori, Simona Turbanti
University of Pisa
Horizontal teaching activity, a.a. 2018/2019
17 January 2019

2. Fundamentals of research
methodology on primary and
secondary sources in the field of
humanistic studies

3. Primary and secondary sources
original, facsimile, transmitted source,
edited source

4. It all depends of course on the starting question
• Primary: source produced near time to the event or to
the historical context with which it is directly or
indirectly related;
• Secondary: source that deals with the event produced
at a distance from the event itself and/or not by its
actors/witnesses
• Scientific literature/historiography
Primary and secondary sources
(history)

5. ?

6. The original
•Written source production
context — conservation context
— archive collection — archive
•Material source (also written)
….. production context —
conservation context — in situ/
collection-museum
•The minimum basic reference is
a place of preservation (with
different possible granularity)
(I. Newton, Propositions) Keines, MS 12,
King’s College Library, Cambridge University

7. •Stele of Valeria Procula
oppure
•CIL XI 6994
in both cases:
•La Spezia, Archaeological
Civic Museum "Ubaldo
Formentini", Castle of St.
George, VI room (Inv. F
1750)
Autonomous title
Reference to the edition
Material source

8. • authors/customers
• writers/manufacturer/workshop
• deliberating office/chancellor’s
office
• recipients
• first location/archiving
• conservation
• materiality
• date of manufacture, shipping,
preservation, placement,
celebration
Explain/consider the context

9. •replicates with valuable
integrative tools the facsimile
edition
•digital reproduction of the
archive collection (entire
digitized collections) with
metadata
•good value for money: an
increasingly adopted solution
from archives and libraries
•good image quality compared
to the past (microfilm)
•possibility to intervene on the
image for useful processing
•Reference: place of
preservation + (perma)Link
+ [date of consultation]
Facsimile edition
image + metadata

10. State Archive of Lucca (aSLu)
16-08-1050-Altopascio
(parchment)
http://
www.archiviodistatoinlucca.
beniculturali.it/ips/nodes/
799711?
open=%2FD%5B01%5D%2FD%5
B01%5DD%5B01%5D%2FD%5B0
1%5DD%5B01%5DD%5B001%5D
%2F&tab=Albero
•[consulted on 15-1-2019]
Facsimile edition
image + metadata

11. • Transmitted: source
handed down from the
manuscript tradition
—> The rules of the
archive sources are
valid with indication of
the correct metadata
to identify it
•Edited: critical edition
of the source (from the
seventeenth century) to
print —> The rules of
t h e b i b l i o g r a p h i c
citation are valid
Transmitted source,
edited source
La Divina Commedia di Alfonso d'Aragona re di
Napoli : manoscritto Yates Thompson 36 Londra,
British Library commentario, a cura di Milvia
Bollati, Modena, F.C. Panini, 2006

12. Rules similar to the
traditional edition with
technical specifications
(optional) and link +
[date of reference] + DOI
Digital critical edition
Codice Pelavicino. Edizione digitale, a cura di E.
Salvatori, E. Riccardini, L. Balletto, R. Rosselli del Turco,
C. Alzetta, C. Di Pietro, C. Mannari, R. Masotti, A.
Miaschi, 2014 <http://pelavicino.labcd.unipi.it>
[consulted on AAAA/MM/GG] DOI
10.13131/978-88-902289-0-2

13. Citations and citational styles
Characteristics, object and purpose of the citation

14. The state of the art
Before starting a research work, starting
from the thesis, it is necessary to take the
point of the situation (the so-called state of
the art), that is to examine what has been
published in various forms on the subject of
its own research literature review
No one starts from scratch!

15. Manage information
Everyone has to handle personal information...

16. The tradition

17. Today

18. Personal information manager (PIM)
The management of information useful for drafting
scientific texts (thesis, article, monograph, etc.) is a
special case of PIM (N. De Bellis, Gestire l’informazione
bibliografica (e non): Update 2013 [slide])
Need to organize the documentation found on the topic
of research so that it is readily available and usable/
citable cataloging of books and collected articles
that form the “personal library”

19. The bibliographic research
Production of more and more data in the current
“information society” need to organize this growing
amount of data for their availability
There are several tools to order and make available the
existing documentary heritage:
• catalogues (OPAC)
• bibliographies

20. The catalogue
The catalogue is the tool whereby users come into contact
with the documentary (or with part of) heritage of the
library or system library, but also of an archive or museum
The catalogue consists of an “ordered and organic set” of
bibliographical records linked together by a network of
bonds (sindetic structure) catalog as language
• The records in the catalogues describing an object
(book, website, archival document, painting, etc.) are
metadata, data about data...

21. The bibliographies
“Bibliographies are lists of bibliographical records,
organized according to a slightly different homogeneous
criteria (alphabetical, chronological, disciplinary and
other), but created according to non-standardized
citational practices and styles that vary according to the
national tradition, or that follow the indications and
requests of the publishers”
• (F. Venuda, La citazione bibliografica nei percorsi di
ricerca: dalla galassia Gutemberg alla rivoluzione
digitale, p. 184)

22. Catalogues vs bibliographies?
The bibliography is a different tool from the catalogue of
one or more libraries; In fact, it gives an exhaustive
account of the existing editorial production on a given
theme, historical period, genre, etc., and may not be
updated after its publication
In reality, for some time now, boundaries between
catalogue and bibliography are more and more blurred (the
OPAC SBN, for example, is often used as a national
bibliography)
• In order not to get lost in this “sea” there are
bibliographies of bibliographies

23. Why are bibliographies necessary?
Need to prove that a research work is based on what
already exists in the matter and from there it started
citation of the material read or consulted to
“build” his own search path
• Need to correctly cite existing scientific literature
(ways and citational styles)

24. Scientific communication
The formal process of scientific
communication is due to the need for
scholars and researchers to contribute
to knowledge and, at the same time,
to lay the basis for their academic
career and reputation
From Starr Hoffman’s blog (<https://
geekyartistlibrarian.wordpress.com/
2013/03/05/the-digital-humanities-
transforming-scholarly-communication/>)

25. What is scientific communication?
Scientific communication can be defined as “the system
through which research and other scholarly writings are
created, evaluated for quality, disseminated to the
scholarly community, and preserved for future use. The
system includes both formal means of communication,
such as publication in peer-reviewed journals, and
i n f o r m a l c h a n n e l s , s u c h a s e l e c t r o n i c
listservs” (Association of College & Research Libraries,
“Principles and strategies for the reform of scholarly
communication 1,” 2003)

26. The birth of scientific communication
Traditionally, its debut can be
traced back to a period prior
to the birth of modern
science itself, that is when
the mechanical type printing
spread
• The circulation of printed
paper allowed a wider
circulation of ideas
“scientific revolution” of
the seventeenth century

27. Levels of scientific communication
The three levels of scientific communication are:
1. among scholars of the same disciplinary field
2. between scholars from different fields
3. to the audience of non-experts

28. The elements of scientific
communication
The essential elements of scientific communication are:
• scientific disciplines
• scholars
• means of dissemination
• audience

29. Stakeholder
The stakeholders of scientific communication are:
• scholars (researchers/scientists and students)
• publishers
• libraries
• …

30. Means of dissemination
Scholars can spread their work in many ways and through
various channels:
• publishing in magazines and books (printed and electronic)
• storing within digital institutional archives
• using mailing lists and online communities
• creating new sites for dissemination

31. The publication cycle
From The University of Winnipeg Library
Pages (<https://library.uwinnipeg.ca/scholarly-
communication/index.html>)

32. The origin of scientific
communication
American sociologist Robert K. Merton – the founder of
the sociology of science – analyzed the existing
relationship between scientific research, technological
innovation and social organization, and defined
science as a social institution
• Merton delineated the rules of the behavior of
scholars/scientists: “priority rule”, “recognition”,
“peer review”, “citation”

33. What is a scientific work?
A scientific work is a
generally published
contribution within a
“ w e l l - r e s p e c t e d ” /
scholarly journal, that is
a scientific journal
based on the peer
evaluation system

34. The peer review
Peer review is a process of critical evaluation of the work of a
scholar carried out by specialists in the field to verify its
suitability for scientific publication in specialised journals or, in
the case of projects, the financing
Peer review has existed since the 17th century, but since the
mid-twentieth century some limits of the system have
emerged:
• high cost of the process
• risk of subjective or distorted judgments

35. Peer review
PERSPECTIVE
When a contribution (article, essay) is
assessed by peers to be published in a
scientific office (journal, book)
In this case the reviewer does not
have any kind of information,
sometimes not even the name of the
author
• It can be:
• single-blind peer-review
• double-blind peer-review
RETROSPECTIVE
Quando un contributo viene valutato ai
fini di una procedura di valutazione
della qualità della ricerca
In this case the subject of the
evaluation is already published and
known to the peer community
The reviewer has much information
related to the impact of the article,
the reputation of the author in the
scientific community etc.
It can only be single blind

36. Peer review limits
Today we talk about open peer review, but there is no
clarity or consensus on the real meaning
• Some argue that the peer review process is in crisis. At
the moment, however, it remains the only system that
works...

37. • The scientist engages in his work to reach the priority of
the discovery
• The scientist is driven to make public the results of the
discovery in the shortest time possible and is obliged to
demonstrate the originality of his thought, however,
showing the contribution of the work of other scholars
to his discovery through the citation
• The more a scientific work is cited by others the more
the scientist increases his reputation
The transmission of knowledge

38. The “power” of the citation
The citation becomes the “condition of access to the
scientific community”
In modern science there is a competition for the priority rule;
to get the publication of the results of his own research (and,
therefore, the priority) it is necessary to submit to peer
review
• According to Merton the scholars are required to cite those
who preceded them and to be cited, even for the
institution to which they belong birth of the modern
theory of citations and bibliometry

39. The basis of bibliometry:
the citation
There are different types and purposes according to the
disciplinary sectors
The gradual development of the habit to cite, in the writings,
the own works or of other scholars has inevitably led to the
use of the citation data and, consequently, to evaluate a
work in relation to the number of quotations obtained
• With the increase in the amount of scientific production
the citation becomes “the current currency in the trade of
the official scientific communication. Small coin cut (the
mention is cheap), but with a big symbolic purchasing
power”

40. The citation
3 English terms: quotation, citation, invocation
1 Italian term:
• quotation = faithful transcription of words, phrases or
parts of works by other authors in the text you are writing
(bibliographic) citation = bibliographical information
identifying the resource used, that is, a description, concise
and as far as possible transcribed in a normalized and
coherent form that represents and allows to identify the
resource from which the words, the phrases, the parts of
text, but also the ideas and concepts used or remembered in
the work have been drawn
• (F. Venuda, La citazione bibliografica nei percorsi di ricerca cit.)

41. Bibliographic citations
Direct and indirect citation
The works consulted and quoted in a direct or indirect way
in the drafting of a text, must be identified by means of
bibliographical references, also defined indications or
bibliographic citations
• (F. Venuda, La citazione bibliografica nei percorsi di ricerca cit.)

42. Bibliographic citations
Two possibilities:
1. in-text citation
2. end-text citation
(F. Venuda, La citazione bibliografica nei percorsi di ricerca cit.)

43. The main citation systems
Two main citation styles:
1. Numerical or standard system (British standard
system): it is used mainly in humanities and in Italy; it
is based on the presence of notes and bibliography
2. Author-date system (Harvard system, o APA - American
Psychological Association - system): it is used mainly in
science and economics and in Anglo-American area; it is
based on the indication of author and publication data
in round brackets in the text

44. Numerical or standard system
Numerical or standard system (British standard system):
use of footnote-numbered notes containing references/
bibliographic citations (in-text citation) and a final
bibliography (end-text citation)

45. Author-date system
Author-date system: use of the author’s surname and
publication date in round brackets (in-text citation) and of
a final list of the only references cited (end-text citation)

46. Chicago style (A)
Chicago style A: numerical system/standard
In the final bibliography it is ordered under the surname of the
author, while in the notes the “ordering element” is missing
(after the number of the note follow, in direct order, first and
last name of the author or directly the title)
If the citations in note are complete, the final bibliography
might in theory be lacking
• The presence of a complete final bibliography may involve the
adoption, also in note, of the form adopted in the final
bibliography or the use of abbreviations from the first citation
in note

47. Chicago style (A)
Notes
Books
Author, Title: Subtitle (Translated title), Editor, Reprint/Edition,
Title series, editor, number, (Publisher place: publisher, date),
Pagine, [Notes].
Parts of books
Author, "Title: Subtitle" (Translated title), part, in Title book
containing, Editor, Reprint/Edition, Title series, editor, number,
(Publisher place: publisher, date), Pages, [Notes].
Journal articles
Autore, "Article title" (Translated title), Journal title volume,
number (year): pages, [Notes].

48. Chicago style (A)
Bibliography
Books
Author. Title: Subtitle (Translated title). Editor. Reprint/Edition.
Title series, editor, number. Publisher place: publisher, date. [Notes].
Parts of books
Author. "Title: Subtitle" (Translated title). Part In Title document
containing, Editor. Reprint/Edition. Title series, editor, number.
Pages. Luogo: editore, data. [Notes].
Journal articles
Author. "Article title." Journal title volume, number (year): pages.
[Notes].

49. Tools of reference/citation management:
Endnote

50. Tools of reference/citation management:
Mendeley

51. Tools of reference/citation management:
Zotero

52. Enrica Salvatori, enrica.salvatori@unipi.it
Simona Turbanti, sturbanti@gmail.com
Thanks for your attention!