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- Jrnl 201
Guide Details
Spring 2009 - Dr. Lucas Carpenter - Jrnl 201
Locating Background Resources
Background information -- like the entries found in encyclopedias and almanacs -- give you an overview of your subject and can help you identify major topics, themes, or controversies surrounding the person you're researching. Background sources can also help you brainstorm additional keywords or terms to search in the databases, and they can point out alternate spellings of foreign politicians' names.
Remember that while background information is great for helping your formulate a research strategy, it's not always great at giving you the in-depth information you need for a research project. Background sources are a solid starting point, but they should not be the only sources you consult.
Recommended Background Resources:
These reference databases are accessible online and offer the most current information about your research subject. You can also use these databases to see examples of how professional biographies are written.
BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES:
Biography Resource Center
A database of biographical information on people throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.
Biography Reference Bank
A database of biographical information on prominent historical figures. This database includes photographs (when available) and cross-references to books and articles written about OR by the person.
Biography & Genealogy Master Index
NO ABSTRACTS OR FULL TEXT. A comprehensive INDEX of biographical entries written about notable figures worldwide. While this database has no full-text articles, it directs you to published biographical information (books and articles) that you can search for in our library OR order through interlibrary loan.
REFERENCE SOURCES:
Oxford Reference Online
This comprehensive database includes fully indexed, cross-searchable full-text content from more than 170 subject dictionaries, language reference, and subject reference works in the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. Also includes English dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries of French, German, Spanish and Italian.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online
Includes the complete encyclopedia (articles and illustrations), as well as the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and the Britannica Book of the Year.
Gale Virtual Reference Library
A collection of online reference works.
Credo Reference Unlimited
Full-text content from hundreds of reference books covering every major subject.
Locating Books
Use DiscoverE, Emory Libraries' newest mega-search tool, to find books and resources in our library catalog (as well as in our online databases and digital collections).
Books can be either primary or secondary sources (and sometimes both!!). Memoirs, autobiographies, letters, photo albums, speeches, interviews, diaries, government documents, and public records are all primary sources.
Biographies, scholarly investigations, and critical histories are secondary sources.
For primary sources, try these reference books:
Historic Documents (1972-2007) / R 917 .3039205 H673d
These volumes contain reproductions (not necessarily in the original format) of relevant historical documents, arranged by date. Each document is also accompanied by a description and summary of its importance.
Recommended Search Terms:
Search for your politician's name, and use the options in the right-hand navigation bar to limit your search further.
Examples:
- Books that list your politician as the AUTHOR count as primary sources.
- You might want to limit your search by LANGUAGE to make sure you're looking at sources in a language you're comfortable reading.
- Select Oxford LIBRARY to look for materials at this library.
Use the connector "AND" to build specific searches.
Examples:
- jacques chirac AND iraq war
- kofi annan AND speeches
Locating Articles
In DiscoverE, Emory's new search tool, use the "Articles" tab and select a subject area from the pull-down menu to search several databases at once. (For this assignment, you might want to try searching in Encyclopedias and Dictionaries, Historical Newspapers, or Social Sciences.)
For more in-depth searching, go to the Databases page and search for databases alphabetically (if you know a particular database you're looking for), by subject area (such as Newspapers or Political Science), or by content type (such as Archives and Primary Sources, Biographies, Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Thesauri, or News Sources).
Recommended Article Databases:
POLITICAL SCIENCE DATABASES:
CQ Political Reference Suite
An online compilation of various CQ publications (including the Political Handbook of the World). This database also includes a Historic Documents collection.
Public Affairs Information Service
Indexes books, periodicals and local, state, national, and international government documents in the areas of public policy, social policy and the social sciences (primarily economics, anthropology, sociology, public health, and political science), going back to 1915.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Indexes international journal literature in political science.
NEWSPAPER DATABASES
LexisNexis Academic Universe
Full-text access to news, business, medical, educational and legal sources. The sources include international, national, and regional newspapers (coverage usually goes back to 1982); magazines; trade journals; newsletters; wire service reports; and transcripts of television and radio news programs.
World News Connection
A Foreign News Service from the U.S. Government that offers translated and English-language news and information. Includes the local media sources in foreign countries and regions. Compiled from thousands of non-U.S. media sources, the information in WNC covers socioeconomic, political, scientific, technical, and environmental issues and events.
ProQuest Historical Databases
A collection of 13 full-text, fully searchable newspapers from across the United States with coverage dating back to the 1800s (including the New York Times, from 1851- 2005).
GENERAL DATABASES
Academic Search Complete
A general database is always a good place to start your search. Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database.
JSTOR
JSTOR, the Journal Storage Project, provides full-text access to digitized versions of key scholarly journals in the arts, the humanities, literature, the sciences, and the social sciences.
Project MUSE
Project MUSE provides full-text access to scholarly journals published by major university presses.