English 75.6: Passing
Spring 2002
Library Catalogs | Literary-Critical Sources | General Background | Dictionaries | The Web | Citing Sources
Library Catalogs
The most important research tool in the Library is the online
library catalog, divided in two parts:
the 4-college catalog for Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke and Smith
and the UMass
catalog. You can search in the library catalogs by
AUTHOR, by SUBJECT,
by TITLE,
or by KEYWORD.
The SUBJECT choice requires the formal word or phrase chosen by libraries
to define your topic. For example, library vocabulary now defines Americans
of African descent as "African Americans" but all other peoples of African
origin (in Africa or the diaspora) as "blacks" collectively. "Whites"
is not a reliable subject category, but the catalog now acknowledges "racially
mixed people" and "passing (identity)" as official subjects. Personal
names can always be subjects. In the library catalog, a name is always
listed last name first for author and subject searches: "larsen nella"
not "nella larsen". If official subject terminology is confusing, just
try keywords. Once you have found interesting books, you can click on
the subject links and move right into a subject search.
Literary-Critical Sources
Finding Book Reviews: Library's webpage which gives tips
for finding reviews, an important source for evaluation of books, expecially
very recent books
Contemporary Authors online and in print (Ref CT 220 C6): Biographies
of authors, lists of their books, notes on reviews, interviews, etc.
Expanded
Academic ASAP: An index to articles published since 1980 from a wide
variety of academic journals. Covers film, history, Black Studies, Women's
Studies, etc., as well as literature. Reviews included. Many references
link to complete online articles.
MLA International Bibliography: Reference to scholarly articles
about literature, folklore, linguistics, and more. You can search by an
author's name if you want articles about her; you can look up keyword
topics. Covers from 1963 on. No book reviews listed!
Lexis-Nexis
Academic Universe: Under "News", access to complete articles from
many newspapers worldwide. Good place to start looking for reviews of
recent books.
The Oxford Companion to African American Literature (Ref PS 153
N5 O96 1997): Brief information arranged by authors, titles, themes, etc.,
many with further readings recommended.
The Companion to African Literatures (Ref PR 9340 C65 2000): For
the briefest information about authors, literary works, genres, etc.
General Background
Britannica Online:
For basic information, a good encyclopedia is often best.
Microsoft Encarta Africana [interactive multimedia] (Media DT14
.M527 1999 CD-ROM): A 2-CD encyclopedia covering a wide range of people,
history, culture, etc., of African origin. Text, sound, images, and more.
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (Ref E 185
E54 1996): Useful background about many aspects of African American life
and history. Essays written by scholars; some have short bibliographies.
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara (Ref DT 351 E53 1997):
Articles signed by experts in African Studies, accompanied by short bibliographies
for further reading.
Dictionaries
OED
Online or the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary (Ref PE 1625
O87 1989)
Encarta World English Dictionary (Ref PE 1628 S5824 1999)
Juba to Jive (Ref PE 3727 N4 M34 1994)
The Web
The Library offers several aids to jump start searching on
the web. Research provides
reasonably direct, organized access to Internet resources like library
catalogs in the U.S. and abroad, and
search engines for finding particular sites. (Right now librarians
think Google is the
best.) Take a look at Online
Resources by Academic Discipline. When you find websites, think critically
and evaluate carefully. For helpful hints, take a look at the criteria
for making judgments at
Evaluation of Web Resources.
Citing Sources
Be sure to credit the sources you use for a research project
-- whether printed books and journals or online texts, websites, etc.
The Bibliography Styles Handbook: MLA Format from the Writers
Workshop at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tells you how to
cite all kinds of sources for courses in literature.
Do you have questions about research in this course? Do you want to make an appointment to talk them over with a librarian? Contact Margaret Adams Groesbeck (magroesbeck)