Information Literacy Tutorials

Get Started http://www.lib.pdx.edu/instruction/survivalguide/getstartedmain.html Find Books http://www.lib.pdx.edu/instruction/survivalguide/booksmain.html Find Articles http://www.lib.pdx.edu/instruction/survivalguide/articlesmain.html Find Web Sites http://www.lib.pdx.edu/instruction/survivalguide/websitesmain.html Boolean Operators (Laura Cohen, SUNY Albany) http://library.albany.edu/internet/boolean.html Write & Cite http://www.lib.pdx.edu/instruction/survivalguide/writeandcitemain.htm

Find Books

When searching for books on a topic, your best choices in the Library catalog (VIKAT) are keyword searching and subject searching. Subject searching requires you to have some knowledge of the terms assigned to book topics by librarians. Some examples are listed below: African Americans Africans African Diaspora Blacks -- Caribbean area Keyword searching is a more flexible way of combining search terms to retrieve books on your topic. When using keywords, be sure to think of synonyms (or related terms) for your search terms. You can also combine terms with the word AND to make your results more relevant. For example: blacks and race identity Remember, too, that you are not just limited to what we own in our Library. Whenever you are searching, you have the option of expanding your results by clicking on the SUMMIT button in the upper right hand corner of the results screen. This automatically redoes your search in the SUMMIT catalog of the ORBIS/CASCADE Alliance. If you find an item in that catalog that you'd like to see, click on the "REQUEST THIS ITEM" link and follow the directions on the screen. If you cannot find what you need in the our catalog (VIKAT) or the catalog of the Orbis-Cascade Alliance (Summit), then you might try Worldcat. WorldCat Contains more than 30 millions records for materials cataloged by the Library of Congress and OCLC member libraries, including most academic and many public libraries in the U.S. Catalog includes books, serials (journals, magazines and newspapers), musical scores, recordings, videos, computer software, films, maps and manuscripts. Locations for all materials are cited. Can be searched by author, title, subject, year, language, material type.

Find Magazine & Journal Articles

To find articles in journals, magazines, or newspapers, you will need to use one of the Library's print indexes or article databases. An index or article database will allow you to look for articles by title, by author, or by a few keywords that describe your topic. Many of the library's electronic databases can be accessed from off-campus. See http://www.lib.pdx.edu/resources/databases/EZ_proxy.html for more information about the proxy server. America History & Life (1969-present) Citations to articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Citations drawn from over 2,000 journals in history, related humanities, and the social sciences. Includes citations to book reviews (appearing in 100 major history journals) and dissertations. Ethnic NewsWatch A full-text database of newspapers and magazines from the ethnic and minority press in America Index to Black Periodicals Reference AI3 .O4 Index to scholarly and general articles concerning African American history and culture. Includes references to journal articles, reviews (books, theater, music), poems, and short stories. HRAF: Human Relations Area File The HRAF database contains full text information on over 360 cultures and may be searched by name of the culture, cultural trait (e.g., religion, initiation), or a combination. PAIS International (1972-present) Provides citations to articles dealing with political and social issues. Note that the descriptor for African Americans is "Blacks." Quarterly Index of African Periodical Literature http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/asian/qsihtml/qsihome.html The Library of Congress's Nairobi Office indexes over 300 selected periodicals which are acquired regularly from 29 African countries. Most of these are scholarly journals or those that cover subject areas not found in widely-available literature (e.g. prisons). Non-scholarly publications from organizations which do not frequently circulate their publications (e.g. non-governmental organizations) are also included. Sociological Abstracts (1963-present) Provides citations to articles dealing with social issues. Note that the descriptor for African Americans is "Black Americans." World News Connection World News Connection (WNC) is an online news service offering translated news and information compiled from non-U.S. media sources. Covers significant socioeconomic, political, scientific, technical, and environmental issues and events. The material in WNC is provided by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS), a U.S. government agency.

Data Sets

American Factfinder http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en Easiest way to retrieve current demographic information on the United States. FedStats http://www.fedstats.gov/ FedStats provides official statistical information available to the public from the Federal Government on economic and population trends, education, health care costs, aviation safety, foreign trade, energy use, farm production, and more. Statistical Universe Indexing and citations for statistics gathered by governmental agencies and industry organizations. Scope includes international, U.S. and state and local statistics. Links to online sources of U.S. government statistics are included. The DataWeb http://www.thedataweb.org/ TheDataWeb brings together demographic, economic, environmental, health and other datasets that are usually separated by geography and/or organization. Yahoo Social Research Data Collections http://dir.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Social_Research/Data_Collections/ A directory of additional data set resources.

	Reference Sources & Bibliographies
	The African studies companion : a guide to information sources PSU Ref DT19.8 .Z45 2003 Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and the African American Experience PSU Ref DT14 .A37435 1999

Web Resources/Literature Review

EblackStudies.org http://eblackstudies.org/ Web-based resource constructed to provide information for students and scholars in all academic fields that focus primarily on Africa and the African Diaspora. Examples of good Literature Reviews Chan, Steve. (1997) In Search of Democratic Peace: Problems and Promise. Mershon International Studies Review. 41,1:59-92. Goeser, C. 2003. On The Cross of The South: The Scottsboro Boys as Vernacular Christs in Harlem Renaissance Illustration. International Review of African American Art. 19,1: 19-27. More resources on writing literature reviews: How to do a Literature Review http://www.chime.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/applications/litreview-howto.htm