Social Change in American Communities
Library Intensive Course: SOC156a
Prof. David Cunningham & Mark Auslander Spring 2006
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Aerial view of Clarksdale, MS from Google Earth
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Laura Reiner
Reference Librarian
Goldfarb Library
phone: 781-736-4689
reiner@brandeis.edu
Contents
Get research help
Reference Librarians in Goldfarb Library are available
- Monday-Friday 10-5
- Tuesdays & Thursdays 6-9
- Sundays noon-5
Research help by phone, email or live online 24/7 service
Brandeis research guides - more help in greater detail
Find background information
Specialized encyclopedias
- Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience
Main Ref DT14 .A37435 1999
- Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History
Main Ref E185 .E54 1996
- Almanac of African American Heritage
Main Ref E185 .A448 2001
- Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions
Main Ref BL 2462.5 .E53 2001
- African American Atlas
E185 .A79 1998
Literature Reviews: Broad Articles that Put Your Topic in Context
Find maps & images
IMPORTANT: Posting maps, images, or music on the web
Find statistical data
Historical Census data
Other data
- County and City Data Book (2000)- economic, political, demographic profiles
earlier editions (1949-1994) in print (can be checked out): +HA202 .A36
- City directories - may be available in county libraries in Mississippi
street-by-street listing of residents with age, occupation
Find books
Tips for searching LOUIS catalog:
- use the Subject terms to find all the ways your topic may be covered
example: civil rights movement in Mississippi
- start with a simple keyword search on Mississippi Freedom Summer to see how this topic is indexed
- then click on the subject links in the full records of books that look good to find more books on the same specific topic
for example:
- or, use Advanced Search to combine keywords
- use synonyms to find all the ways your topic might be expressed
- use asterisk (*) to capture all the variants of a word
example: african-american* or afro-american* or negro*
AND
civil rights or political activis* or vot*
AND
mississippi or rural or south* or ....
WorldCat
- Search this nationwide catalog to find books on your subject that Brandeis doesn't own.
- - click on "Libraries that own this item" to see which local libraries have it
- - or use the ILL button (Interlibrary Loan) to have the book sent to you
Find articles
Historical Newspapers
Indexes to Journal Articles
Tip: Use the 
button to get from an article citation to the full text of the article in these databases - here's how
Full-Text Journal Articles
A few more tips...
- Use ArticleFinder if you have an article citation but no access to the Get It! button (such as a citation from a print source)
- If we don't own the journal, request the article via Interlibrary Loan and get a scanned PDF via email in just a few days
Key web sites
Citing your sources
-
It's OK to post any properly-cited music, images, or text in the WebCT class. If you post any of this material to the class blog on the Web (or any other open website), the following guidelines must be observed:
- It is illegal to post copyrighted music, images, or text on the Web without prior written permission. In the rare case where permission is granted, it can take many weeks.
- Material in the public domain (copyright-free) can be posted on the Web with proper citation of source.
- Generally, books published before 1923 are in the public domain.
- If the article is already posted via free access on the Web, you can link to it. If it is in a database, journal, or newspaper licensed by Brandeis, your audience may not have access.
- If you can't tell if something is in the public domain, assume that it is not.
