Reference sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias, will be useful for refining your topic and coming up with keywords. Some of entries will contain bibliographies which you can use to locate key books and articles on your topic.
A Companion to Asian American Studies by 
The Columbia Guide to Asian American History by Try exploring the Library Catalog for books related to your topic. The Library Catalog tab in OneSearch is the main way to located books, as well as journals and videos in the library collections. If you have already identified the book(s) you need through other research aids, you can search by Title or by Author. If you are trying to identify books that will be useful for your research topic, you can search Keyword or Subject.
If Brandeis does not have the book you need, try looking for books from other libraries:
Online: WorldCat is a library catalog that contains millions of records for books and other materials held in libraries worldwide. Once you have located your item in WorldCat, use the Interlibrary Loan Form in OneSearch to request it from another library.
In-person: Brandeis is a member of the Boston Library Consortium. You can borrow books in-person from any of the member libraries in New England with a BLC card. Get a BLC card at the Information & Borrowing desk in Goldfarb Library.
More Information about Interlibrary Loan
Search for books by either Keywords or Subject Headings. Start with a Keyword search and identify some relevant books. Then look at the subject headings for those books. You can follow the subject heading links in the catalog to find similar books, or you can use the terms in the subject headings to identify other keywords to try.
Example Subject Headings:
Asian Americans -- History
Asian Americans -- Intellectual life
Asian Americans in literature
Vietnamese Americans -- Ethnic identity
Vietnamese Americans -- Cultural assimilation