American Studies 25 :
Asian/Pacific/American Studies
Fall 2006
- Library Catalogs, Indexes and Databases
- A Few Reference Sources
- Help from the Library and Other Useful Tips
Library Catalogs, Indexes and Databases
Five College Library Catalog: New catalog to all books, music, video, online resources, etc., in Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith libraries. Search all together or serach one library at a time.
Sociological Abstracts and IBSS (International Bibliography of the Social Sciences): Access to the international literature in sociology and other disciplines such political science, anthropology, economics. etc. Summaries of articles included. Use ACLinks to online articles
or catalog searches for the journals in print.
Ethnic NewsWatch: Fully searchable newspaper and magazine articles. Set "Ethnic Group" to "Asian/Pacific Islander".
America: History & Life: Index to articles, essays, dissertations, and book reviews covering all aspects of American history.
Expanded
Academic ASAP and Academic
Search Premier: Indexes to articles in many disciplines. Some references back to 1975.
Lexis-Nexis
Academic Universe: Access to complete articles from many newspapers
worldwide. A place to start looking for very recent (but not very scholarly)
articles.
MLA International Bibliography: References to scholarly
articles about literature, folklore, linguistics, and more published since
1963.
Journal
Locator/Citation Linker See if a journal is available
at AC; connect to electronic copies or look in library catalog for print
journals.
Indexes & Databases: More choices for research. Databases arranged by subject.
A Few Reference Sources
The Asian American Encyclopedia (Reference E 184 O6 A827 1995): A 6-volume collection of brief essays and identifications of people, events, movements, organizations, and more. Good for quick, superficial information.
Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America : Essays on "specific culture groups" in the United States. Good for quick background information.
Statistical Record of Asian Americans (Reference E 184 O6 S73 1993): Statitstics about the Asian American population from many sources; not very much logitudinal data.
Historical Statistics of the United States; Statistical Abstract of the United States (in print: HA 202 U58, latest year at Reference Desk); American FactFinder; Historical Census Browser: General sources of statistics about the United States that will include information about immigration from Asia and about Asian Americans. Beware! Racial and ethnic categories in U.S. government compilations have varied over the years.
Atlas of Asian-American History (Reference E 184 O6 A89 2002): Essays, maps, pictures, graphs, etc. Not in-depth treatment of any topic but good for background when you don't need to spend a lot of time.
OED
Online A large dictionary on historical principles also
available in 20 volumes in the Reference Collection (Reference
PE 1625 O87 1989). Full of interesting insights into the changes in the English language over the years. Just great to know about.
Help from the Library and Other Useful Tips
Ask for help! Reference
and research advice from the experts. Or just Ask
Us on email.
Cite the sources you used. Use Citing References: MLA Style for the way to cite in
the humanities; for social sciences, try Using
the American Psychological Association (APA) Format
Do you use the Web for research? Evaluate Internet Resources from the University of Maryland Library gives good criteria for judging websites.
Do you have questions about research in this course? Contact Margaret Adams Groesbeck (email:magroesbeck; voice: x2098)