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Library Research Guide

Compiled by Eric Kofi Acree, Librarian

ASRC 100.4:
Black Is & Black Ain't: The Politics of Identity in African American Literature
Professor Gerald Jackson

http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/faculty/asrc1004a.html

Tips | Print Resources | Electronic Resources | Citing Sources | Online Resources

  • Tips to consider for this assignment:
    • Look for what others have written about the person. This would include book reviews, essays, etc.
    • Look at what the person has written.
    • Be aware of when the person lived or was born.
    • Research the time period that the person lived.
    • Use many sources, don't stick to one. Cross reference materials.
    • Research the person thoroughly.
    • Evaluate information and its sources critically.

  • Print Resources:

    • Black Literature Criticism, 3 volumes Africana Library Reference PS 153 N5 B617
      This set contains a selection of criticism of works by major black writers. Including poets, essayists, autobiographers, novelists and more. Approximately half of the entries were selected and updated from the Gale's Literary Criticism Series. The entries include introductions to the author and extensive excerpts from the selected criticism. The set also includes an author index, nationality index, and a title index.

    • African American Writers, 2 volumes Africana Library Reference PS 153 N5 A231 2001
      This up-to-date and very well-written handbook covers the writing of over 50 African-Americans from slave narratives to contemporary fiction. The entries consist of a biographical, critical essay for each author and a thorough bibliography. Many essays include excerpts of work by the author. Also included is a chronology, a list of contributors, and an index.

    • Afro-American Fiction Writers, Africana Library Reference PS 153 N5 A23+ 1984
      This volume deals with black American writers since 1955 (after the era of Richard Wright and Ralph Ellison). The book contain a good measure more than the formulas and summaries of most such literary dictionaries.

    • African American Writers, Africana Library Reference PS 153 N5 A231
      This up-to-date and very well-written handbook covers the writing of over 50 African-Americans from slave narratives to contemporary fiction. The entries consist of a biographical, critical essay for each author and a thorough bibliography. Many essays include excerpts of work by the author. Also included is a chronology, a list of contributors, and an index.

    • Who's Who Among African Americans, Africana Library Reference E 185.96 .W62
      Who's Who Among African Americans provides biographical and career details on more than 20,000 notable African American individuals, including leaders from sports, the arts, business, religion and more. Includes geographic and occupational indexes as well as an obituary section updating entries for listees who have died since the previous edition.

    • Contemporary Black Biography, Africana Library Reference DT 18 .C76
      This extraordinary reference series provides biographical profiles of important persons of African heritage whether they are personalities from the news, selected 20th-century notables, or individuals who are not yet household names. Each volume of Contemporary Black Biography contains at least 65 full-length biographies. Name, occupation, nationality and subject indexes are included in each volume.

    • The Kaiser Index to Black Resources: 1948-1986, Africana Library Reference Z 1361 N39 K34X1992
      This five volume set is a bibliographic guide to periodical literature, published articles and ephemera.

    • Index to Black Periodicals, Africana Library Reference Z 1361 .N39 I38
      A yearly author and subject index to about 25 Afro-American periodicals of general and scholarly interest. The journals which are included cut across such disciplines as psychology, sociology, education, history and popular culture, etc. It was formerly called the Index to Periodicals By and About Blacks, and is the best source available for articles from black journals.

    • The African American Encyclopedia, 6 volumes Africana Library Reference E 185 .A255
      Articles range from 1,250 to 5,000 words covering people, places, organizations, laws, cultural movements, vocabulary, economics, entertainment, religion, and other aspects of African American life and culture.

    • Black Women in America: Literature, Africana Library Reference E 185.96.F2x 1997 v.2
      This volume includes entries on individuals in poetry, fiction, criticism, autobiography, and biography.

    • Notable Black American Men, Africana Library Reference E 185.86 .N68x 1998
      This work aims to fill the need for an up-to-date biographical listing of African American men and to influence positively the image of black men in America. Covering nearly three centuries, it gives biographies of 500 men who are or were pioneers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, creative figures, leaders for social justice, major governmental or organizational officials, orators, educators, scholars, or contributors in other areas.

    • Notable Black American Women, Africana Library Reference E 185.96 N89
      Arranged alphabetically, this source includes 500 biographies of historically important Black American women, from colonial times to the present. Areas of endeavor are diverse, and include abolitionists, entertainers, activists, philanthropists, and writers. Articles contain references for further reading.

    • Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Africana Library Reference E 185.86 B542x 1993
      This encyclopedia contains 804 entries, including 641 biographical entries and 163 which deal with general topics and organizations. The subjects of the biographies are individuals who played a role on the national stage. Each entry contains a brief biography. A 23-page chronology is also included.



    To find out if the print resources are available in other Cornell libraries, do a title search in CU Library Catalog.

  • Electronic Resources:

    • Electronic Encyclopedias
      • Contemporary Authors - A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields.

      • Literature Resource Center - A complete literature database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Draws from Gale Group's core literary databases, including Contemporary authors, Dictionary of literary biography, and Contemporary literary criticism. Provides additional search capability for Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of literature and Gale literary index.

      • Contemporary Literary Criticism - Provides an extensive collection of critical essays on contemporary writers. Each entry also contains a biographical/critical introduction including pseudonyms and nationality, a listing of principal works, and sources for further study.

    • Electronic Indexes

    • Newspaper, Magazine & Journal Indexes
      • Ethnic NewsWatch - A full-text collection of 240+ newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Designed to provide the "other side of the story," Ethnic NewsWatch offers additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream press.

      • JSTOR - JSTOR is a fully-searchable database containing the back issues of several hundred scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, music, ecology and botany, business and other fields.

      • Lexis Nexis Academic Universe - LexisNexis Academic provides access to full text resources on topics including current and general news; business and financial information; newspapers; company directories; government and politics; medical and health topics; accounting, auditing, and tax; federal and state laws; legal cases; and regulations. Resources include TV and radio news transcripts.

      • Literature Online (LION) - A full-text collection of poetry, drama, and prose with complementary references sources. Full-text articles from literary journals and biographical information on widely studied authors.

      • MLA Bibliography - MLA bibliography is the largest and most comprehensive database covering scholarship in the modern languages, linguistics, literature, folklore, and drama, including film, opera, radio, television and theater. Literary criticism and literary theory are covered extensively. Approximately 4,000 journals and series are indexed.

      • Periodical Abstracts (ProQuest Direct) - Indexes and abstracts approximately 2000 general interest magazines and scholarly journals. It also includes citations and abstracts to selected television and radio programs. Many of the articles found by searching in this database are available in full text electronic formats. Pull down menus allow you to customize your searches. Also included is a limit for peer-reviewed articles (scholarly articles).

    • Library Catalog

  • Citing Sources:

      APA citation style

  • Online Resources:

Eric Kofi Acree, ea18@cornell.edu, (607) 255-5229

http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/faculty/asrc1004a.html

 

 
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