Intro to American Studies: Basic Resources

The Basics

Restricted Access

Many of the resources listed in the sections below are marked Restricted Access. You should have no problem connecting to these from any networked computer on campus. However, in order to use these from off-campus, you must log in with your Rutgers NetID. For instructions see the Libraries' Remote Access to Library Resources.

Once you have gone to a Rutgers Libraries page and logged in with your NetID [your pegasus username and password] you can use the "Off-Campus Access" link provided for each Rutgers-restricted resource below to connect to that database or article. Use the link embedded in the citation to access these resources on campus.

E-Reserves

To get to readings that your instructor may have placed on Reserve in the Library, click here. Once you get to the Lookup box, the easiest way to get to the right list is to search by the Instructor's name.

IRIS: Find Books

IRIS is the online catalog for all the Rutgers University Libraries except the Newark and Camden Law Libraries. Use IRIS to find out if the Rutgers Libraries have the specific books or journals that you need, or to locate books on topics that you're researching. Show Me How

Getting Books From Other Rutgers Libraries

If a book that you need is not available (not owned/checked out) at the Dana Library, but is available from another Rutgers Library, you can request delivery of that book to Dana by bringing up the record for the book in IRIS and clicking on tbe Deliver/Recall button. Show Me

Book Not Available/Not Owned by the Rutgers Libraries?

The fastest way to get a copy of a book that is not owned or not available (checked out/on Reserve/missing etc.) at the Rutgers Libraries is to request it through E-Z Borrow. E-Z Borrow books are normally received within about five working days. Tell Me More

If a book is not owned by the Rutgers Libraries and is not available via E-Z Borrow, you can place an Interlibrary Loan request. Tell Me More

Becoming an 'Expert' User

Want to maximize your use of Library resources? Check out Rutgers RIOT, the Libraries' online tutorial.

Citing Your Sources

You will most likely be using Chicago/Turabian style when citing the sources that you use in your research papers. The Chicago Manual of Style and Turabian's Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations are both available at the Dana Library Reference Desk. The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison also has a nice introduction to Chicago/Turabian Documentation that will give you the basic information you need to create bibliographic citations.

The above site does not, however, cover citing online resources. The Library of Congress has a guide on How to Cite Electronic Sources that show Turabian-style examples.

You can also import references from IRIS and many of the electronic databases into RefWorks, a web-based bibliography and database manager. RefWorks will build your bibliography for you based on whatever style sheet you specify (MLA, Chicago, etc.). For information on setting up your (free) RefWorks account see the RefWorks FAQ.

Not sure when you need to cite something? Check out the Plagiarism Guide

Remember that plagerism is a violation of the Rutgers University Academic Integrity Policy and could result in your dismissal from the University!

American Studies: Selected Resources

Encyclopedias

Encyclopedia of American Studies: American Studies Association. Baltimore, MD., Johns Hopkins Press,.2009.; Over 660 signed articles with bibliographies.

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture: Tom and Sara Pendergast, editors. Detroit, MI, St. James Press, 2000. 5 vols.; 2700 signed entries with bibliographies on all aspects of 20th century U.S. popular culture.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access; Dana Call Number: Ref. E169.1 .S764 2000

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: New York, Macmillan, 1996. 5 vols plus Supplement (2001).
Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas: 2nd edition. Detroit, Macmillan, 2006. 6 vols.; Signed entries covering all aspects of African-American history and life. While the 2d edition expands the scope of the work beyond North America, it has only a little more than half of the number of entries found in the first edition. Many of the U.S.-centered articles (for example, entries on states and major cities) are not available in the 2d edition. About half of the articles that appear in both have been updated in the 2d edition. Bibliographic references. Together, a good starting point for research.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E185 .E54 1996.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E185 .E54 2006. Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

LGBT: Encyclopedia of Lebian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History in America: New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 3 vols.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

Bibliographies

American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography: Jack Salzman, editor. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1986. 3 vols.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E189.1 .A436 1986

American Studies: An Annotated Bibliography, 1984-1988 [Google Book Limited Preview]: Jack Salzman, editor. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1990.; Dana Call Number: Ref. E189.1 .S35 1990

Interdisciplinary Cultural Theory: Extensive critical bibliography by Dr. T.V. Reed, Professor of American Studies and English at Washington State University.

Finding Books: Library Catalogs

IRIS
The online catalog for the Rutgers University Libraries.

Newark Law
Camden Law
Law library materials are not listed in IRIS. Use the same subject headings you use in IRIS find relevant publications in the law collections.

Catalog of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Catalog of the New York Public research library "devoted to collecting, preserving and providing access to resources documenting the experiences of peoples of African descent throughout the world." The Schomburg Center contains over 5,000,000 items held in five divisions: Art and Artifacts Division, General Research and Reference Division, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, and Photographs and Prints Division. [Note: When beginning a search session, select "Schomburg Center" from the pull-down menu on the right.]

Finding Digitized Books

For a book to be legally digitized and available online, either the holder of the copyright has to give permission for the digitization, or the book needs to be in the public domain. In the U.S., books in the public domain are usually those that were published prior to 1923, although under certain limited conditions later works may also be in the public domain. Books that are freely available online will be those that are in the public domain.

Google Books: Google has partnered with a number of universities to scan the full-text of public domain books in the university library collections. They've developed technology that enables them to scan more than 3,000 books per day. In addtion to the full-text of the books in the public domain, for many titles Google allows you to view snippets or selected pages from books still under copyright.

Internet Archive: Search the "Texts" files for specific titles or books on particular subjects.

Finding Book Reviews

Book Review Index Plus: Index to book reviews from popular and scholarly journals from 1965 to the present.; Off-Campus Access

Periodicals Index Onlince/Archive Online: International Index to over 5000 journals ranging from the 18th century to 1995. Includes a growing archive of full-image articles and links to JSTOR collections where available.; Off-Campus Access

Reader's Guide Retrospective: Indes to the most popular general-interest U.S. periodicals between 1890 and 1982.; Off-Campus Access

Finding Scholarly Articles: Indexes

This is a selected list of databases that you may find useful. There are many other indexes that may focus more specifically on the particular topic that you are researching. Check out the complete list of Rutgers online indexes and databases.

Humanities Full Text: Humanities Full Text is the basic index for finding articles in the humanities disciplines, including history and literature. It indexes over 550 of the core, English language journals in history, literature, art and music, philosophy and religion. It indexes many journals back to 1984 and, beginning with 1995, includes many full-text articles.; Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

American History

America: History and Life 1964- .: The most comprehensive index to American (U.S. and Canada) history. Indexes over 2000 journals worldwide, as well as book reviews and dissertations.; Off-Campus Access Restricted Access.

African American Studies

The Kaiser Index to Black Resources, 1948-1986.: From the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson, Pub., Inc. 1992. 5 volumes; Unique resource based on the collections of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Over 170,000 citations to journal and newspapers articles, books, pamphlets and reports dealing with black history and culture.; Dana Library Call Number: Ref E185.K25 1992

Literature

MLA International Bibliography 1926-: The premier index to articles, books, and dissertations on literature, language, linguistics, folklore, and film.; Off-Campus Link Restricted Access

Can't resist the urge to Google?

Google Scholar: Use the Google search engine to search specifically for scholarly literature including books, peer-reviewed articles, theses, preprints, and technical reports. Links to the full-text of articles from open access (available without a subscription) journals and preprint repositories.

The Press

For links to many newspaper sites with online searchable archives, as well as to physical collections of newspapers see the Newspapers Research Guide.

Contemporary Accounts

Access World News: Access to the full text of over 600 U.S. and over 700 international newspapers.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

Historical Accounts

American Periodicals Series Online 1740-1900: The full text of articles, advertisements, illustrations etc., from American popular and literary magazines and journals that began publication between 1741 and 1900. Search by author, title, article type, publication title, date, and keywords in the full-text.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access

Historical New York Times: Allows you to search and display the full image of articles published in the New York Times back to 1851. The two+ most recent years are not included, use Access World News.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.

Historical Washington Post: Search and display the full image of articles published in the Washington Post between 1877 and 1993.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.

Chicago Defender [Forthcoming]: The Chicago Defender was the most influential African-American newspaper of the 20th century. With the majority of its readership outside the Chicago region, it served as the de facto national black newspaper in the U.S. Search and display the full text of articles published between 1910 and 1975.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.

Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers: Full-text database of 500 newspapers published between 1800 and 1900.; Off-Campus Access Rutgers-restricted Access.

Who's S/He?

Directory of American Scholars: Directory information on American and Canadian scholars from a variety of disciplines. Information includes education, professional experience, honors & awards, chief fields of research interest, and major publications.; Dana Call Number: LA2311 .C32 [1942-1999].

Corrections?
Natalie Borisovets (natalieb@andromeda.rutgers.edu)
John Cotton Dana Library
July 28, 2010