HISTORY 100.61
20th Century African Icons
(http://www.library.cornell.edu/africana/faculty/hist100.html)
Compiled by Eric Kofi Acree, Librarian
ea18@cornell.edu, (607) 255-5229
 Thomas Sankara |
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
Finding Background Information (Reference Books):
- Africana:
the Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience.
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates, editors. New York: Basic
Civitas Books, 1999. (Olin Ref + DT 14 A37435x
1999)
Inspired by W.E.B. DuBois's dream of editing a Pan African encyclopedia of the African diaspora, this single-volume, 2000-page reference work aims to provide broad coverage of its subject. At the same time, its primary focus is on history (political and social), literature, and the arts to which African contributions have been especially notable. Roughly 2/5 of the entries cover Africa, 1/3 Latin America and the Caribbean, 1/3 North America, and the rest cross-cultural topics. The work features maps, charts, tables and photographs, twelve substantive essays by noted scholars, and a selected bibliography. Signed entries cover subjects as King Sunny Ade, Ghanian Coffin Art, and U.S. Reconstruction after the Civil War.
- Africa
South of the Sahara. London : Europa Publications Ltd. 1971 -
. (Olin Ref DT351 A25 +; also Africana)
An annual compendium of up-to-date information and data surveying the geography, recent history, politics, and economy of sub-Saharan African countries. Each country profile includes statistical tables and a directory of government agencies, national media outlets, and trade associations. Also contains background articles by experts on the region.
- Encyclopedia
of Africa South of the Sahara. John Middleton, Editor-in-chief.
4 vols. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1997.(Olin
Ref DT351 E53x 1997+; also Africana Ref)
Considered the standard multi-volume encyclopedia on the history and culture of sub-Saharan Africa, each signed article contains a bibliography of related readings. Entries on specific events or individuals tend to be shorter, while those on broader subjects (Death, Mourning and Ancestors; Gender; Archaeology and Prehistory; Diaspora) are much longer and quite substantive.
- The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Science. 1991. (OLIN REF JA 61 B62 1991)
Provides a succinct guide to the central concepts used in the study of the political institutions of advanced industrial societies, the principal political organizations and movements in these societies and the main types of political community. Includes an index and lists of additional readings.
- The
Middle East and North Africa London: Europa, 1964- . (Uris Ref DS
49 M62; also Olin and Africana)
An annual publication, divided into three sections: Part I gives background information on the Middle East and North Africa, Part II lists its regional organizations, and Part III lists, alphabetically, all of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa with long, descriptive essays and much statistical data. In addition to a brief historical and political overview, entries include data on farming, industry, finance, trade, tourism, education, communications media and more. Constitutions are given, names of members of the government, religions, etc. Each section ends with a bibliography of further readings about that particular country.
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.
Distinguishing Scholarly From Non-Scholarly Periodicals: A Checklist of Criteria
African
Studies Database
African Studies is an exclusive combination of 16 databases
from three continents providing access to multi-disciplinary information
on Africa. Combining 16 databases from three continents searchable together
for the first time, this premier information resource contains over
849,270+ indexed references, many with abstracts. Records are derived
from books, periodical articles, pamphlets, maps and music recordings.
Topics include politics, history, economics, business, mining, development,
social issues, anthropology, literature, language, law, music and much
more.
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.
Black
Studies On Disc CD-ROM (Located in Africana Library)
Information on materials by and about African Americans, Africa and
peoples of African ancestry. Includes catalog of the Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture and citations from the Index to Black
periodicals, 1989-present.
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.
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. It includes the
following collections: Arts & sciences I, II and III, General science,
Ecology and botany, Business, Language and literature.
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.
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.
African Studies Internet Resources
The resources on these pages will aid you in finding current and historical information on various African countries.
Give credit where credit is due.
Cornell University Code
of Academic Integrity
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.
When to cite:
If you quote an author, even if you are only borrowing a single key word, you need to tell your reader the origin of the quotationYou also need to cite a source:
if you restate an idea, thesis, or opinion stated by an author
if you restate an expert's theory or opinion
if you use facts that are not common knowledge
if you need to provide an informational or explanatory note
(http://www.oslis.k12.or.us/secondary/howto/cited/cited01.html)
Chicago Manual of Style
CU Reference locations include Olin, Uris, ILR, and Fine Arts Libraries
at call number: Z 253 .U69 2003
Chicago Manual of Style Form Guide (Ohio State University)
The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ
