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Professor
Weston Miller
Library Liaison
Jeff Waller
Contents
Introduction
Research Basics
Reference Sources for
Background Information
Find Books/Secondary Sources
Find Journal Articles
Selected Websites
How to Cite Your Sources
Subject Guide
English
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This is a guide to selected sources of information related to Race and Racism in Literature in the Geisel Library. It is meant as a starting point for your research. For further research assistance, please stop by the Reference Desk in person or pose your question online at Ask a Librarian.
The reference librarians have created a group of webpages named Research Help, and a tutorial called Searchpath, designed to help teach you the basics of library research and to introduce you to Geisel Library. On the Research Help pages, you will find a guide on Research Basics that walks you through the seven steps of doing successful college-level research. Please take advantage of these resources.
Reference books are shelved by call number in the reference stacks near the reference desk. They may not be checked out, but photocopiers are available on the lower level of the Library. Online reference sources can be found in the library catalog or listed on the
E-Reference Resources page. Use reference resources to find background information on authors and literary works, as well as the social issues, historical periods, and themes being addressed in this course.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
Find overviews on a wide variety of topics by searching this online encyclopedia. This is a good source for obtaining background info on authors and finding good keywords that represent your topic.
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Find entries on race and racism, prejudice, and critical race theory.
Ref CB9 .N49 (print version)
Oxford Reference Online
This database enables you to search within many of Oxford's highly-regarded reference works in the fields of literature and history, including the Oxford Companion to American Literature and Oxford Companion to United States History. These are good for basic background information on authors and historical events.
Literary Theory and Symbolism
These reference sources can help you understand the terminology you encounter in literary criticism, as well as interpret the meaning of symbols in literary works.
Dictionary of Literary Terms (Shaw)
Ref PN44.5 .S46
Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (Cuddon)
Ref PN41 .C83
Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs (2 vols.)
Ref PN43 .D48
Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory
Ref PN44.5 .H37
Symbolism: A Comprehensive Dictionary
Ref CB475 .O38
Literary Criticism and Author Biographies
Literature Resource Center
This database includes lengthy biographical profiles of authors, plot summaries, and literary criticism for over 90,000 novelists, poets, and other writers. This resource also provides the full text of articles from more than 100 literary journals. User Guide
African American Writers
Ref PS153 .N5 A344
American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies (13 vols.)
Ref PS129 .A55
Contemporary American Women Fiction Writers
Ref PS374 .W6 C66
Critical Survey of Long Fiction (8 vols.)
Ref PN3451 .C75
Encyclopedia of the Novel (2 vols.)
Ref PN41 .E487
Literary Criticism Series
Contemporary Literary Criticism (Ref PN94 .C65)
Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism (Ref PN761 .N56)
Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (Ref PN94 .T83)
To find out the volumes in which your author or literary work are covered, use the Gale Literary Index.
Literature and Culture of the American South
Ref PS261 .C555
Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature
Ref PS21 .E537 (print version, 4 vols.)
Twentieth-Century American Literature (8 vols.)
Ref PS221.T843
Race and Racism in History and Society
Dictionary of Asian American History
Ref E184.O6D53
Encyclopedia of American Political History, 3 vols.
Ref E184 .S75 C644 [chapter on race and racism]
Encyclopedia of American Social History, 3 vols.
Ref HN57 .E58 [chapter on racism]
Encyclopedia of Multicultural Psychology
Ref GN502 .E63 [sections on racism and discrimination, white privilege, and institutional
racism]
Encyclopedia of Multiculturalism, 6 vols.
Ref E184 .A1 E58
Encyclopedia of the United States in the 20th Century, 5 vols.
Ref E740.7 .E53 [chapter on race]
Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism Since 1450, 3 vols.
Ref JV22 .E535 [section on race and racism]
Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups
Ref E184 .A1
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Examples of subject headings to search in the Catalog:
Try searching some of these phrases as Subject Headings in the catalog. This method often finds a higher percentage of books that are directly relevant to a particular topic. If you are researching a particular author or work, try searching the author's name as a Subject to locate biographies and literary criticism.
- Race in literature
- Racism in literature
- African Americans in literature
- American literature – African American authors – History and criticism
- Asian Americans – [various subheadings]
- Ethnic groups
- Ethnicity – United States
- Race discrimination
- Race discrimination – United States
- Race relations
- Race relations – United States
- Racism – United States
Examples of keyword searches to use in the Catalog:
To find books about more narrowly-focused topics, try searching Keywords that represent those topics. Here are some examples:
- America* AND (colonialis* OR imperialis* OR racis*)
- Race AND (identity OR self)
- Asian America* AND (race OR racism OR discrimin*)
- (White OR whiteness) AND race
Use the * (asterisk) as a truncation symbol to retrieve variant forms of a word root; for example, natur* will catch books with the words "nature" or "natural" in the catalog record. Use the Boolean AND to combine together multiple concepts, and use the Boolean OR to expand your search with synonyms and related terms.
Some General Collection books found using Subject and Keyword searches:
Racial Thinking in the United States: Uncompleted Independence
E184.A1 R3235
American Prejudice: With Liberty and Justice for Some
E184.A1 R67
Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White
E184.O6 W84
"I'm Not a Racist, But.": The Moral Quandary of Race
HT1523 .B58
Buying Whiteness: Race, Culture, and Identity from Columbus to Hip Hop
PR408.R34 T39
Authentic Blackness: The Folk in the New Negro Renaissance
PS153.N5 F38
If you are unable to locate enough materials in the Geisel Library catalog, search the collections of libraries worldwide using WorldCat. This enables you to identify relevant books owned by other colleges and have them delivered to Geisel Library for your use, via our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service. Try searching on the same keywords and subject headings that you used in the library catalog. If you find a relevant book, click on the title and look for the Request ILL link. Once you submit the request, the book is typically delivered to Geisel Library within 7–8 days.
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Below are several databases that may yield useful journal articles for your research. Some focus on literary criticism while others will provide historical and socio-cultural context for the literature. Try searching on the same keywords that you used in the book catalog. Remember to use Boolean operators and wildcards (the asterisk symbol) to improve your search.
In the results screen, if there is no full-text link readily available, click on the  icon to determine whether the journal is available in the Geisel Library or in full-text via another electronic database. If the article isn't available, consider clicking on the Interlibrary Loan link to request a PDF copy of the article from another library. Articles requested via ILL will be delivered to your email inbox within about a week. To learn how to use WebBridge, please watch our video tutorial (3.5 mins; includes audio).
Literature Resource Center
Find biographical information on authors, as well as bibliographies, plot summaries, and literary criticism of their works. This resource also provides the full text of articles from more than 100 literary journals. User Guide
MLA International Bibliography
Produced by the Modern Language Association of America, this electronic index consists of bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. User Guide
Academic Search Premier
A broad index providing abstracts and some full-text for a range of academic areas, including literature, politics, and sociology.
Alternative Press Index
Provides citations (some with abstracts) from over 250 alternative, radical, and international periodicals, covering cultural, economic, political and social change.
America: History and Life
Provides abstracts to journal articles, book/media reviews, and dissertations with a focus on United States and Canadian history and culture from prehistoric times to the present.
Historical Abstracts
This index provides abstracts to key history journals from around the globe, covering world history from 1450 to the present (excluding North America, which is covered in America: History & Life).
JSTOR
Search here for full-text articles from major journals in the humanities and social sciences. Coverage is generally from the beginning of publication to within 5 years of the current issue. User Guide
Project MUSE
This database offers all full-text articles from over 300 peer-reviewed journals; subjects include humanities, arts, medicine, mathematics, social sciences, and more.
SocINDEX
This sociology database provides full-text articles from journals, books, monographs, and conference papers. Coverage is of all subdisciplines of sociology, including criminal justice, ethnic and racial studies, gender studies, social psychology, urban studies, and more.
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Voice of the Shuttle: Minority Literatures (Univ. of Ca-Santa Barbara)
Detailed list of links to sites on minority literature, organized by group.
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See the library's How To Cite Your Sources guide for resources on how to properly cite research materials. Always confirm the style required by your instructor.
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