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Digital Research

This guide provides an overview of tips, support, and resources available to complete digital research projects at American University.

What is Digital Research?

At the AU Library, the term “Digital Research” refers to the use of modern digital methods and technologies to advance or supplement the traditional process of scholarly exploration. At AU, digital research includes a wide range of scholarly activities, including computationally supported analysis, online research methods, and digital publication, all of which use digital methods and technologies to generate new knowledge and advance conventional approaches. These technologies can be applied at any stage of the research process.

Digital research brings together new forms of technology, new forms of scholarly communication, and new types of expertise and collaboration. This type of research is suitable for everyone any researcher, whether faculty or student, in any discipline. You may also hear it called Digital Humanities or Digital Scholarship.

This guide provides a basic introduction to digital research projects, support, tools, and resources. If you want to learn more about digital research or start a digital project, please contact the Digital Research and Inquiry Lab at digitalresearch@american.edu

Introductory Reading about Digital Research

A Short Guide to the Digital Humanities by Anne Burdick, Johanna Drucker, Peter lunenfeld, Todd Presner, and Jeffrey Schnapp (2012) is an open access pdf guide to what Digital Humanities is, what it isn't, and core competencies required to do it.

The Digital Humanities Literacy Guidebook by Scott B. Weingart, Susan Grunewald, Matthew Lincoln et al. (2022) is a slim guidebook that introduces digital humanities topics and resources to newcomers.

Digital Scholarship in the Humanities is an international, peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research in the areas of digital scholarship and digital humanities. 

Digital Humanities Quarterly (DHQ) is an open-access, peer-reviewed, digital journal covering all aspects of digital humanities research.