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Pamela Harris, Outreach and Instruction Librarian (SC)
Bronwen Densmore, Reference & Instruction Intern (SC)

Sections:

find books
deciphering the library of congress classification system
getting an overview of a topic in encyclopedias
find journal articles
creating a bibliography
getting more help:

Related Subjects:

Africana Studies

Databases A-Z:

Other:

BLST 015 : Introduction to Black Studies (SC)

find books:

Tripod library catalog.

The library catalog of Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges.

WorldCat

Provider: OCLC

A catalog of the holdings of books, journals, and other materials held by libraries worldwide. Includes manuscripts, maps, films and sound recordings. Covers works published before 1,000 BC-present.

E-ZBorrow

EZ-Borrow lets you search the library catalogs of more than 35 Pennsylvania academic libraries and directly request items not owned by the Tri-College Libraries, and items that are currently checked out of the Tri-College Libraries. Use the barcode on the back of your student ID to login to EZ-Borrow. Most EZ-Borrow items circulate for 28 days. Requests for books normally take 2-10 days to fill.

To request books not owned by the Tri-College Libraries and not in EZ-Borrow, use interlibraryloan; follow the directions on the EZ-Borrow/ILL page.

deciphering the library of congress classification system:

Believe it or not, those letters at the beginning of call numbers actually mean something! Letters stand for general bodies of knowledge, called “classes”. Each class is further subdivided into more specific categories.

A – General Works
B – Philosophy, Psychology, Religion
C – Auxiliary Sciences of History
D – History of Africa, Asia, Europe & Oceania
E – History: America
F – History: America
G – Geography, Anthropology
H – Social Sciences
J – Political Science
K – Law
L – Education
M – Music, Books on Music
N – Fine Arts
            N – Visual Arts
            NA – Architecture
            NB – Sculpture
            NC – Drawing, Design

P – Language and Literature

Q – Science

R – Medicine

S – Agriculture

T – Technology

U – Military Science

V – Naval Science

Z – Bibliography, Library Science

getting an overview of a topic in encyclopedias:

In Tripod do a keyword search for african and encyclopedias. 98 titles will be listed, all specialized encyclopedias on diverse topics in African American history, from the ancient past to current pop culture and cinema. Some of my personal favorites are The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore and the Encyclopedia of African~American Culture and History.

find journal articles:

ProQuest Research Library

Provider: ProQuest

Provides citations and full-text magazine and journal articles in a wide variety of disciplines, both scholarly and popular in scope. Covers 1971-present.

JSTOR

Provides full-text and page images from many of the top journals in most academic disciplines. Coverage is from the inception of the journal through three to five years ago.

Web of science

Provider: ISI

Provides access to articles in the Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Arts and Humanities. Search for scholarly articles in any discipline, or for articles that cite a known author or work. Coverage varies.

New Web of Science interface

Note the MyEndNoteWeb link at the top of every screen.

Black Studies Subject Portal

Still looking for the best article on your topic? Try some of the resources recommended on this portal page.

creating a bibliography:

EndNote

Create a profile to use EndNote to format your bibliography.

paraphrasing & citation

This page is from the Writing Center - if you have any questions about documenting your research, check here. There are good examples of when and how to paraphrase and use in-text citation.

getting more help:

Contact Information: Pamela Harris, pharris1, x2056

If you need research assistance, I am at the Reference Desk on Mondays 7:00-10:00. You can also make an appointment and meet with me in my office, which is on Level 1 of McCabe in the far southeast corner, turn right at the French Dictionaries!

Bronwen Densmore, bdensmo1, x8543

I am at the Reference Desk on Tuesdays from 7:00-10:00, and Fridays from 12:30-3:00. You can also make an appointment or drop by my office, which is on level 1 of McCabe, close to the Food Encyclopedias.