AAAS 110, Sec. 3 : Introduction to Contemporary Africa

Two Penn State Libraries' Research Guides are helpful starting places for finding country information:

• African Studies
  Click "Reference Books" scroll down to "Country Information", "News Sources", and check other sources, etc.

• Country Information and Data Sources

1. Choose a Topic: an African country (Sudan)

2. Identify Keyword(s) about your topic

3. Use identified keywords in The CAT [Penn State Libraries' online catalog] to find encyclopedias and other reference materials (print or online), general books, videos, dissertations, etc. in various formats. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference works provide background information and overviews of a topic — a good starting point for researching your topic.

• use Advanced Search in The CAT
• enter your keyword "Sudan"
• limit your search to format, year, library, etc.

OR

Use Quick Search and simply enter your keyword(s) and click the Search button.

See the Libraries' Research Guide: African Studies [click the Reference Books link for a list of encyclopedias and other reference works (print and online).

Use identified keyword(s) to find articles in these databases:

• JSTOR

• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

• Project MUSE

• America: History and Life

• Historical Abstracts

• International Index to Black Periodicals

• Ethnic NewsWatch

Newspaper articles can provide context as well as current information about your topic. Use the Libraries' Newpapers and News Sources Research Guide to find appropriate new sources for your topic.

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography [Cornell University Library Research Guide] — includes a sample entry for a journal article.

• Book Reviews [Penn State Libraries' Research Guide]

• Africa South of the Sahara [Karen Fung, Stanford University Libraries]

• United Nations

• Foreign Government Information [Penn State University Libraries' Research Guide] provides strategies for researching information about foreign countries.

• African Government Websites

Citation and Writing Guides [Penn State Libraries' Research Guide] provides links to online citation guides as well as citation management tools that will help you correctly format your bibliographic references.

Instructor: Gabeba Baderoon

Librarian: Sylvia Nyana