ASRC 100.6--Africana Library, Cornell University

ASRC 100.6: The Black Experience in Writing: Taking the Journey Home

(http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/faculty/asrc100_6.html)

Compiled by Eric Kofi Acree, Librarian

Developing a Search Strategy
Annotated Bibliography
Finding Background Information
Searching Techniques
Finding Books
Finding Book Reviews
Finding Articles
Finding Web Resources
Citing Sources

Developing a Search Strategy:

Search strategy is a library term for the process of finding information in a logical, step-by-step manner. Using a search strategy insures that you will find the information and materials you need as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Research Steps:

Choose your topic
Find background information
Find books on your topic
Find periodical articles
Using WWW to Find Internet Resources
Evaluate your sources
Cite your sources

Annotated Bibliography:

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography (Cornell University)

This guide created to help students write an annotated bibliography.

Annotated Bibliographies (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
This guides provides important details on how to write an annotated Bibliography.

Finding Background Information (Reference Books):

African American Encyclopedia, Africana Library Reference E 185 .A255
This six volume set features entries on people, organizations, landmarks, professions, entertainment, military activity, religion, family life, politics, court cases, cultural movements, and other facets of life that have unique expression among African Americans.

Black Literature Criticism. James P. Draper, ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992.
Africana Library Reference PS 153 .N5 B617
Covers 125 writers representing the United States, Africa, and Jamaica. Each entry presents a historical survey of critical response to the author's works.

Contemporary Black Biography, Africana Library Reference DT 18 .C76
This 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, these are the men and women who are changing today's world and shaping the world of tomorrow.

Contemporary Authors Online
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.

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.

CQ Researcher or Congressional Quarterly, 1991- . Uris Library Referebce H35 .E23
CQ Researcher provides articles on current and controversial world issues.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Essays outlining the lives and careers of authors from all eras and genres, and summarizes the critical response to their work.

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture & History Africana Library Reference E 185 E54 1996 (Also on CD-ROM)
This multi-volume set presents the lives and significance of African Americans in the broadest way possible. This encyclopedia has biographical entries, as well as entries dealing with events, historical eras, legal cases, areas of cultural achievement (music, architecture, the visual arts), professions, sports, and places.

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.

Searching Techniques:

Whether you are clicking your way across the Web, searching for resources in the Cornell Library Catalog, or looking for scholarly articles in specialized subject databases, being aware of a few simple techniques can improve the effectiveness of your searches.

Do you know how to use the following search techniques?

keywords vs. phrase searching
boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT (for combining search terms)
truncation and wildcard symbols (for finding singular, plural, and other keyword variations)
field searching (for narrowing a search to specific parts of a record)
controlled vocabulary (subject headings)

See the following sites for details on how to refine and perfect your search results:

Introduction to Database Searching Skills
Search Strategies

Finding Books:

Cornell Library Online Catalog

About the CU Library Catalog:
The Cornell University Library Catalog includes the holdings of 19 Cornell University libraries. (The Weill Cornell Medical Library, located in New York City, has a separate catalog.) The catalog contains records for books, computer files, government documents, manuscripts and archives, maps, musical scores, periodicals, serials, sound recordings, and visual materials received and cataloged since 1973. There are also records for most pre-1973 items, and for items that are on order or in process.

CU Library Catalog Help Pages

Finding Book Reviews:

Book reviews can help you better understand a book. In a college or university setting, it is often wise to read book reviews on an assigned book before reading the book.

For tips locating book reviews visit; http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/bookreviews.html

Finding Articles:

Distinguishing Scholarly From Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria

America's Newspapers
Contains complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded. Date coverage varies with individual newspaper.

ArticleFirst
Indexes over 10,000 periodicals in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, business, the humanities, and popular culture.

Black Studies Database or The Kaiser Index to Black Resources: 1948-1986, Africana Library Reference Z 1361 N39 K34X1992
This database covers events critical to the study of Black life and culture outside of Africa including notable figures in Black history, culture, and sports; the Civil Rights Movement; the growth of the NAACP and the National Urban League; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; jazz and soul music; Taken from more than 150 publications relevant to the Black experience and African Diaspora.

Ethnic Newswatch
Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press.

Factiva
Factiva provides access to global news and business information, including local newspapers, same-day newswires, company reports, and media programs.

Find Articles (Open Access)
FindArticles is a content-distribution partnership between LookSmart, which provides the search infrastructure, and the Gale Group, which provices the published editorial content.

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. Black Studies on disc is available at Africana. It contains entries from the Index to Black Periodicals from 1989.

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.

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 screened, and entries for books are included. Entries appear both for collections of essays and for their contents.

Periodical Abstracts
Available as part of the ProQuest Direct system, Periodical Abstracts indexes and abstracts an extensive number of periodicals, covering general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. Also included are citations and abstracts to selected television and radio programs. Full text of many articles is provided.

PsycINFO
Contains summaries and citations of the international literature in psychology and related behavioral and social sciences, including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, education, pharmacology, and linguistics. Includes applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, educational psychology, experimental human and animal psychology, personality, physical and psychological disorders, physiological psychology and intervention, professional personnel and issues, psychometrics, social processes and issues, sports psychology and leisure, and treatment and prevention.

Finding Web Resources

Search Engines and Subject Guides
Use search engines or Internet subject guides to find resources or sites on the World Wide Web on your topic. Search Engines are software that allow you to search the contents of web pages and Subject Guides are web pages that use menus and lists to sort and classify web sites.

Question and evaluate the information that you find on web pages. As you would do with books and journal articles, look to see who is responsible for producing the web page or site that you are accessing. How objective is the information? How accurate or truthful? How authoritative? Go to the Evaluating Sources section of this page for more information on how to assess the web sites you have accessed.

Search the Internet
Bare Bone 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web

Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites
Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools

Citing Sources:

Give credit where credit is due.

By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources. This allows others to find what you have found and to verify your research.

Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity

Chicago Manual of Style
CU Reference locations include Olin, Uris, ILR, and Fine Arts Libraries at call number: Z253 .U69 2003

Chicago Manual of Style Form Guide (Ohio State University)

The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.)
CU Library Reference locations include Africana, Hotel, Management, Olin, and Uris Libraries at call number:
BF 76.7 .P83x 2001x. Also in ILR and Mann Reference at BF 76.7 .A51 2001.

APA citation style (Gateway Help)

APA Reference Examples for Electronic Source Materials Excerpted from the new 5th edition of the Publication Manual.

APAStyle.org

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (6th ed.)
CU Library Reference locations include Olin and Uris Libraries at call number: Z253 .M68 2003 .

MLA Citation Style (Gateway Help)

MLA Style (MLA's web site)


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		Print This Page ASRC 100.6: The Black Experience in Writing: Taking the Journey Home (http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/faculty/asrc100_6.html) Compiled by Eric Kofi Acree, Librarian Developing a Search Strategy Annotated Bibliography Finding Background Information Searching Techniques Finding Books Finding Book Reviews Finding Articles Finding Web Resources Citing Sources Developing a Search Strategy: Search strategy is a library term for the process of finding information in a logical, step-by-step manner. Using a search strategy insures that you will find the information and materials you need as quickly and efficiently as possible. Research Steps: Choose your topic Find background information Find books on your topic Find periodical articles Using WWW to Find Internet Resources Evaluate your sources Cite your sources Annotated Bibliography: How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography (Cornell University) This guide created to help students write an annotated bibliography. Annotated Bibliographies (University of Wisconsin-Madison) This guides provides important details on how to write an annotated Bibliography. Finding Background Information (Reference Books): African American Encyclopedia, Africana Library Reference E 185 .A255 This six volume set features entries on people, organizations, landmarks, professions, entertainment, military activity, religion, family life, politics, court cases, cultural movements, and other facets of life that have unique expression among African Americans. Black Literature Criticism. James P. Draper, ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992. Africana Library Reference PS 153 .N5 B617 Covers 125 writers representing the United States, Africa, and Jamaica. Each entry presents a historical survey of critical response to the author's works. Contemporary Black Biography, Africana Library Reference DT 18 .C76 This 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, these are the men and women who are changing today's world and shaping the world of tomorrow. Contemporary Authors Online 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. 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. CQ Researcher or Congressional Quarterly, 1991- . Uris Library Referebce H35 .E23 CQ Researcher provides articles on current and controversial world issues. Dictionary of Literary Biography Essays outlining the lives and careers of authors from all eras and genres, and summarizes the critical response to their work. Encyclopedia of African-American Culture & History Africana Library Reference E 185 E54 1996 (Also on CD-ROM) This multi-volume set presents the lives and significance of African Americans in the broadest way possible. This encyclopedia has biographical entries, as well as entries dealing with events, historical eras, legal cases, areas of cultural achievement (music, architecture, the visual arts), professions, sports, and places. 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. Searching Techniques: Whether you are clicking your way across the Web, searching for resources in the Cornell Library Catalog, or looking for scholarly articles in specialized subject databases, being aware of a few simple techniques can improve the effectiveness of your searches. Do you know how to use the following search techniques? keywords vs. phrase searching boolean operators: AND, OR, NOT (for combining search terms) truncation and wildcard symbols (for finding singular, plural, and other keyword variations) field searching (for narrowing a search to specific parts of a record) controlled vocabulary (subject headings) See the following sites for details on how to refine and perfect your search results: Introduction to Database Searching Skills Search Strategies Finding Books: Cornell Library Online Catalog About the CU Library Catalog: The Cornell University Library Catalog includes the holdings of 19 Cornell University libraries. (The Weill Cornell Medical Library, located in New York City, has a separate catalog.) The catalog contains records for books, computer files, government documents, manuscripts and archives, maps, musical scores, periodicals, serials, sound recordings, and visual materials received and cataloged since 1973. There are also records for most pre-1973 items, and for items that are on order or in process. CU Library Catalog Help Pages Finding Book Reviews: Book reviews can help you better understand a book. In a college or university setting, it is often wise to read book reviews on an assigned book before reading the book. For tips locating book reviews visit; http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/bookreviews.html Finding Articles: Distinguishing Scholarly From Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria America's Newspapers Contains complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded. Date coverage varies with individual newspaper. ArticleFirst Indexes over 10,000 periodicals in science, technology, medicine, social sciences, business, the humanities, and popular culture. Black Studies Database or The Kaiser Index to Black Resources: 1948-1986, Africana Library Reference Z 1361 N39 K34X1992 This database covers events critical to the study of Black life and culture outside of Africa including notable figures in Black history, culture, and sports; the Civil Rights Movement; the growth of the NAACP and the National Urban League; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; jazz and soul music; Taken from more than 150 publications relevant to the Black experience and African Diaspora. Ethnic Newswatch Ethnic NewsWatch is a full-text collection of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Factiva Factiva provides access to global news and business information, including local newspapers, same-day newswires, company reports, and media programs. Find Articles (Open Access) FindArticles is a content-distribution partnership between LookSmart, which provides the search infrastructure, and the Gale Group, which provices the published editorial content. 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. Black Studies on disc is available at Africana. It contains entries from the Index to Black Periodicals from 1989. 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. 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 screened, and entries for books are included. Entries appear both for collections of essays and for their contents. Periodical Abstracts Available as part of the ProQuest Direct system, Periodical Abstracts indexes and abstracts an extensive number of periodicals, covering general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities and sciences. Also included are citations and abstracts to selected television and radio programs. Full text of many articles is provided. PsycINFO Contains summaries and citations of the international literature in psychology and related behavioral and social sciences, including psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, education, pharmacology, and linguistics. Includes applied psychology, communication systems, developmental psychology, educational psychology, experimental human and animal psychology, personality, physical and psychological disorders, physiological psychology and intervention, professional personnel and issues, psychometrics, social processes and issues, sports psychology and leisure, and treatment and prevention. Finding Web Resources Search Engines and Subject Guides Use search engines or Internet subject guides to find resources or sites on the World Wide Web on your topic. Search Engines are software that allow you to search the contents of web pages and Subject Guides are web pages that use menus and lists to sort and classify web sites. Question and evaluate the information that you find on web pages. As you would do with books and journal articles, look to see who is responsible for producing the web page or site that you are accessing. How objective is the information? How accurate or truthful? How authoritative? Go to the Evaluating Sources section of this page for more information on how to assess the web sites you have accessed. Search the Internet Bare Bone 101: A Basic Tutorial on Searching the Web Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Sites Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools Citing Sources: Give credit where credit is due. By properly citing the sources you use in your research projects you are both identifying the resources that you used to complete your work and you are formally acknowledging the authors or creators of those resources. This allows others to find what you have found and to verify your research. Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity *Chicago Manual of Style* CU Reference locations include Olin, Uris, ILR, and Fine Arts Libraries at call number: Z253 .U69 2003 Chicago Manual of Style Form Guide (Ohio State University) The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ *Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association* (5th ed.) CU Library Reference locations include Africana, Hotel, Management, Olin, and Uris Libraries at call number: BF 76.7 .P83x 2001x. Also in ILR and Mann Reference at BF 76.7 .A51 2001. APA citation style (Gateway Help) APA Reference Examples for Electronic Source Materials Excerpted from the new 5th edition of the Publication Manual. APAStyle.org *MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers* (6th ed.) CU Library Reference locations include Olin and Uris Libraries at call number: Z253 .M68 2003 . MLA Citation Style (Gateway Help) MLA Style (MLA's web site)