AASP 297: RESEARCH METHODS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES

Web page created by Otis A. Chadley, Social Sciences Team, UM Libraries
Instructor: Dr. Sangeetha Madhavan

Scope: This Web page will assist you in constructing research strategies and locating African American related resources. Due to licensing agreements, some of the electronic resources available by remote access is restricted to current students, faculty, and staff at the University of Maryland, College Park. E-mail Otis Chadley, ochadley@umd.edu, the subject area specialist, or call 301-405-9282 for more information.

OUTLINE

• Finding Books & Nonprint Materials
• Finding Scholarly Journal Articles
• Finding Popular Magazine Articles
• Finding Newspaper Articles
• Understanding & Finding Primary Sources
• Finding Primary Sources In Library Microform & Special Collections
• Finding Repositories of Primary Sources: Research Centers
• Finding African American Resources Through The Internet
• Borrowing From University of Maryland Libraries & Placing Holds
• Requesting Library Materials Through Interlibrary Loan Services
• Avoiding Plagiarism & Citing Your Research Correctly
• Conducting Off Campus Research Through Your Personal Computer

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Finding Books & Nonprint Materials

Visit the University Libraries'Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Catalog. Use the advanced search option to limit your search by format (books, microform, maps, videos, etc.), location (archives, government documents, nonprint media services, etc.), as well as, by language and publication date.

• Scholarly and Popular Articles
  http://library.albany.edu/usered/char/index.html
• What Makes a Scholarly Work Scholarly? http://ulysses.carthage.edu/ais/cgrugel/criticalthinking/scholarly.htm
• Scholarly Journal Articles vs. Popular Magazine Articles
  http://www.crk.umn.edu/library/links/profjls.htm

To locate journal articles, use specialized periodical indexes or visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Research Port. Select a subject category of databases, such as African American Studies. Recommended databases include Black Thought and Culture; Ethnic NewsWatch; International Index to Black Periodicals; JSTOR; and Primary Sources in African American History.

To search for a specific E-journal title or research your topic within an E-journal, click on E-journals (which includes journals, magazines, and newspapers). Next, enter the E-journal title (i.e. African American Review), and follow the available search options.

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Finding Popular Magazine Articles

To locate magazine articles, use general periodical indexes or visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Research Port. From the subject categories of databases, select General/Multidisciplinary. Recommended databases include Academic Search Premier; Ethnic NewsWatch; and LexisNexis Academic.

To search for a specific E-magazine title or research your topic within an E-magazine, click on E-journals (which includes journals, magazines, and newspapers). Next, enter the E-magazine titile (i.e. Black Enterprise, Newsweek etc.), and follow the available search options.

Newspapers articles provide timely information on a variety of topics. To locate relevant news stories on your subject, use newspaper indexes, as well as, electronic databases. Visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Research Port. From the subject categories of databases, select News Sources/Current Events. Recommended databases include Academic Search Premier; African American Newspapers (19th Century); Ethnic NewsWatch; LexisNexis Academic; and Black Thought and Culture (i.e. Black Panther Party Newspaper).

To search for a specific E-newspaper title or research your topic within an E-newspaper, click on E-journals (which includes journals, magazines, and newspapers). Next, enter the E-newspaper title (i.e. New York Times), and follow the available search options.

Primary sources are eyewitness accounts or participants' reports. Secondary sources interprets or analyzes topics. Examples of primary sources include diaries, speeches, interviews, letters, manuscripts, photographs, minutes and papers of organizations, microfilm collections in some instances, video recordings that document what happened, and newspaper articles written at the time of an event. Memoirs and autobiographies are sometimes considered primary sources. To locate primary sources, use the search methods listed below.

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• Visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu), and click on Catalog. Conduct word/s anywhere search and combine your topic with the desired primary source. Example(s): "Malcolm X" and speech* or "Malcolm X" and photo*. Also, use the advanced search option of the library catalog, and limit your search by format (maps, microform, etc.), or location (archives, government documents, manuscripts, etc.).
  
  
• Visit the University Libraries' Homepage (http://www.lib.umd.edu) and click on Research Port. Select a subject category of databases.
  
  
• Visit the Microform Collections By Subject (http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/subject_list.html), and click on History--U.S.--African Americans. Be sure to search other relevant subject categories as well.

The African American related materials listed below are located in McKeldin Library's Periodicals/Microforms Room; Special Collections in Hornbake Library; and the Maryland Room in Hornbake Library. Visit (http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/micro_list.html) for more Microform Collections, and (http://www.lib.umd.edu/PUB/collections.html) for more Special Collections.

• African American History Resources
  Web Address:http://www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum/rguide/afram.jsp
  
• African and African-American Pamphlet Collection
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/rAREcOLLECTION/africanpamphlet.html
  Location: Hornbake Library, First Floor Maryland Room
• Anti-Slavery Propaganda In The Oberlin College Library
  Web: Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/antislavery.html
  MCK-PER M-CARD
  
• Black History Resources (Archives & Manuscripts Department)
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/archivesum/rguide/afram.jsp
  
• Civil Rights During the Johnson Administration, 1963-1969
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/civil_rights.html
  MCK-PER M-FILM KF4749.C68
• The Claude A. Barnett Papers. Part One: Associated Negro Press News Releases, 1928-1964 (1986) Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/claude_barnett.html
  MCK PER M-FILM 4882.5.C525 1984
  
• Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) Papers, 1959-1976
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/core.html
  MCK-PER M-FILM E185.61.C66
  
• Hope, John. Papers of John and Lugenia Burns Hope
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/john_hope.html
  MCK-PER M-FILM LC2781.H596 1984
  
• The Martin Luther King, Jr., FBI File
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/martin_luther_king.html
  MCK-PER M-FILM E185.5.N275A3 1982
  
• National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Papers
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/naacp.html
  MCK-PER M-FILM E185.97.K5M268
  
• New Deal Agencies and Black America
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/newdeal.html
  McK-Per M-Film JK723 .A34N48
  
• President Truman's Committee on Civil Rights
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/truman.html
  MCKPER M-FILM J82.B3 1964
  
• Travels in the New South I and II
  Web Address: http://www.lib.umd.edu/MICROFORMS/travels_new_south.html
  M-CARD UNCATALOGED (Microcards are arranged by main entry in the microcard cabinets in the Periodicals/Microforms Room. Items are individually catalogued by main entry without call number).

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Finding Repositories of Primary Sources: Research Centers

Repositories collect, store, and make available primary and secondary sources. To access off campus repositories, visit Repositories of Primary Sources. It is your guide to primary sources listed on more than 5,000 Web sites.

Also, conduct a google search (www.google.com). Use google's advanced search mode. Type repositories of primary sources as an exact phrase. Next, click on those links you find relevant. Also, try some of your own search strategies in google. See the recommended repositories listed below.

• African-American Research Library & Cultural Center
  Web Address: http://www.broward.org/library/aarlcc.htm
  
• Amistad Research Center, Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisana)
  Web Address: http://www.tulane.edu/~amistad/
  
• David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the African Diaspora
  Web Address: http://www.driskellcenter.umd.edu
  
• Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.)
  Web Address: http://www.loc.gov/
  
• Library of Congress Local History & Genealogy Reading Room
  Web Address: http://www.loc.gov/rr/genealogy
  
• Maryland State Archives African American Resources (Annapolis, Maryland)
  Web Address: http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/refserv/html/afro.html
  
• National Archives, Washington D.C.
  Web Address: http://www.archives.gov/
  
• Problems Peculiar to African American Research (This is not a repository).
  Web Address: http://users.adelphia.net/~cliffmurr/specialp.htm)
  
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York, New York)
  Web Address: http://http://www.nypl.org/research/sc/sc.html
  
• Smithsonian Institution African American History and Culture (Washington, D.C.)
  Web Address: http://www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmah/afroam.htm
  
• State Archives Referral List
  Web Address: http://www.ldpierce.com/archivereferral.html

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(Museums, Exhibits, & Guides)

• African American Civil War Memorial (Washington, D.C)
  Web Address: http://www.afroamcivilwar.org/
  
• African American Mosaic (An Exhibit By The Library Of Congress)
  Web Address: http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html
  
• African American Odyssey (An Exhibit By The Library Of Congress)
  Web Address: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/aohome.html
• Anacostia Museum (Washington, D.C.)
  Web Address: http://www.si.edu/anacostia
  
• Frederick Douglass National Historic Site (Washington, D.C.)
  Web Address: http://www.nps.gov/frdo/freddoug.html
• Great Blacks In Wax Museum (Baltimore, Maryland)
  Web Address: http://www.greatblacksinwax.org
• Reginald F. Lewis Museum (Baltimore, Maryland)
  Web Address: http://www.africanamericanculture.org

• AfricanAmericans.com
  Web Address: http://www.africanamericans.com
  
• Black-Network.com
  Web Address: http://www.Black-Network.com
  
• BlackWebportal.com
  Web Address: http://www.blackwebportal.com/">BlackWebportal.com
  
• Still More Ways To Search The Internet
  Web Address: http://www.internettutorials.net/engines.html

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Borrowing From University of Maryland Libraries & Placing Holds

If you have a current University of Maryland identification card, you may borrow from all University System of Maryland Libraries, as well as, place holds. For more details on borrowing privileges, visit our web site, http://www.lib.umd.edu/PUBSERV/circ_all.html.

If you need an item that is not owned by one of the University of Maryland Libraries, you may request a copy through the Interlibrary Loan Office. For details refer to our web site, http://www.lib.umd.edu/ILL/Welcome.html.

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Avoiding Plagiarism & Citing Your Research Correctly

• AAA Style
• APA Style
• Chicago Manual of Style
• MLA Style
• MLA Style (A Detailed View)
• Turabian Style

To search library holdings, visit our Web site at http://www.lib.umd.edu. Click on "Catalog."

To search databases and e-journals, visit our Web site at http://www.lib.umd.edu. Click on "Research Port" and review screen commands.

Other than "Research Port," you may access library resources through your WAM Account or VPN (Virtual Private Network). For details, visit http://www.lib.umd.edu/ETC/wam.html.

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