There are many databases and print indexes to choose from for your research. Depending on your topic and time period you may have to use an array of resources. Given that the area of race and ethnicity incorporates many disciplines, there is no one source that will give you everything in one. So you will need to be creative. Historical period materials may only be accessible in a print index and not available online. An often overlooked resource is the bibliography that can be found at the end of related journal articles or in books on your topic.
Where to Start?
Academic Search Premier: ASP provides an excellent coverage of popular and scholarly articles, mostly full-text, in the Social Sciences and Humanities areas. A good place to start on most topics. For just scholarly/peer review articles, you will need to "Limit your results."
Multidisciplinary full text, peer reviewed academic journals that support scholarly research in key areas of academic study.
Covers 1923 to the present. This weekly publication gives background information on current and controversial issues. Unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy.
ERIC is the education database. It has great depth of resources. Be aware that this database includes more than just articles - it also includes books, book chapters, government reports, conference papers, and school district reports (all states not just California). Remember to limit your search only to journal articles. See image. View other Education resources for your research.
America: History & Life is the database to use. It is an advance tool - meaning your searches will give more than just articles but also dissertations, books, book chapters, and conference papers. If you only want articles limit to Peer Review. See image. If you want an article that covers a specific time period, limit to Historical Period. See image. Make sure to also review the Library Catalog for books. See guide on History for additional resources.
In addition to ASP, the advance tool in the area of Sociology is Sociological Abstracts. NOTE: This is not a full-text database but it does offer links to articles that we have online journal subscriptions to. This database includes more than just articles. Click on "Advance Search" to allow you to limit just for articles. See image. Another excellent database is JSTOR. This is a full-text database, however, this database does not offer recent publications. Changes are that after searching ASP and Sociology Abstracts you will have located most of the materials you need. See guide on Sociology for additional resources.
The journals archive consists of older (at least 2-5 years) issues of core scholarly journals across a wide range of subjects including the arts, humanities, and social sciences. The eBook collections are DRM-free and allow for unlimited concurrent use and unlimited chapter downloads and printing.
PsycInfo is an excellent database for pychology literature. However, this database too includes more than just articles, it also includes books, book chapters, conference papers, and more. Apply the limit to Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals. See image. For additional databases in the area of Psychology see guide.
PsycEXTRA, produced by the American Psychological Association (APA), is a bibliographic and full-text companion to the scholarly PsycINFO database. Document types include technical, annual and government reports, conference papers, newsletters, magazines, newspapers, consumer brochures and more. Extensive coverage of gray literature relating to psychology and the behavioral sciences.
When searching for articles or books in our databases, the best research method is using KEYWORDS.
Conducting research on any ethnic group, you must consider the range of labels we use to identify ourselves/them. Chicano or Mexican American can be used but also consider Hispanic or Latino. For other Latino groups use the specific Latino population, like Puerto Rican, Cubans, Dominican Republic, etc. Black and African American and historically used terms as necessary. Asian American — Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, etc. Native American — Hopi, Cherokee, Navajo, etc. Lastly, remember to review the subject identifiers for possible keywords in your book and article searching.
Covers 1923 to the present. This weekly publication gives background information on current and controversial issues. Unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy.
Reference tool for U.S. and Canadian history and culture. With full-text coverage of hundreds of journals and books, and selective indexing for journals from 1863 to present.
Web of Science is a citation database that covers three major tools: Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. The complete database covers thousands of scholarly journals from 1975 to the present across a broad range of disciplines. Included in the subscription: Journal Citation Reports and Essential Science Indicators (ESI). Also included is the Grants Index which is found under the Web of Science core collection drop down menu.
This is the major newspaper in Silicon Valley. The link above provides free access to some current articles. Subscription access is available from Newsbank Mercury News Historical and Current (1884 to present). Access is also available from ProQuest Newsstand (2010 to 2016) and ProQuest Newsstream (2016-2019)
Want to know who is referencing a participart work? Web of Science is an advance tool for researchers. See tutorial to learn how to get the most of this tool.