AAA S 101 / WMNST : African American Women
Selected Library Resources
Spring 2008
Sylvia Nyana, Social Sciences Librarian
Office: 2nd Floor Paterno Library
san17@psu.edu
814-865-8864
University Libraries' home page: http://libraries.psu.edu
1) Identify and develop your topic
- Look at your syllabus for topic ideas
- Try These First is a list of databases that are good to use to start your research.
- Use Bibliographies to locate information in books, journals, magazines, newspapers, etc. on a topic
Example: In Basic Search, enter "women’s suffrage bibliography", "voting rights bibliography" as Keywords - Talk to your instructor or librarian
2) Identify keywords, synonyms and related words
3) Use identified keywords to search for Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Other Reference Works in Print and Online
Reference titles will provide background information and overviews of topics, cited works. They are a good starting point for your topic.
Go to the CAT, click "Advanced Search", enter "keyword" and choose "Reference Book" from the drop-down menu, limit year, library, etc., and click search button.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library [available through the Libraries' Databases By Title (A-Z List)]
- Oxford African American Center [available through the Libraries' Databases By Title (A-Z List)]
- American women civil rights activists: bio-bibliographies of 68 leaders, 1825-1992 (print)
- International encyclopedia of women's suffrage (print)
- The Encyclopedia of civil rights in America (print)
- The Greenwood encyclopedia of African American civil rights : from emancipation to the twenty-first century (print)
4) Use identified keywords to search for books and other materials in the CAT.
Go to Advanced Search, enter keyword and limit your search to format, year, library, etc.
5) Indexes and Databases [available through the Libraries Databases By Title (A-Z List)]
- America : History and Life
- Sage Race Relations Abstracts
- JSTOR
- American National Biography
- Biography and Genealogy Master Index
- Sociological Abstracts
- Gallup Brain (Polling)
- iPoll (Polling)
- National Journal (Polling)
Search Databases "By Subject", for example, "Women Studies".
6) Statistics
- LexisNexis Statistical [available through the Libraries' Databases By Title (A-Z List)]
- Social Sciences Statistics and Data [Social Sciences Library Web site]
Note: Contact Stephen Woods, Social Sciences Librarian and subject specialist for statistics and data for additional help.
7) Government Documents
- LexisNexis Congressional [available through the Libraries' Databases By Title (A-Z List)]
- Catalog of U.S. Government Publications [available through the Libraries' Databases By Title (A-Z List)]
Note: Contact Stephen Woods, Social Sciences Librarian and subject specialist for Government Documents for additional help.
8) Web Resources
- Women Studies [Social Sciences Library Web site]
- African American Studies Collection [Social Sciences Library Web site]
- Civil rights organizations
- African-Americans in the Twentieth Century [Long Island University, B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library Web site]
(e-reference)