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AAAS 130b: Black Brandeis, Black History

Resources and strategies for research in Professor Chad Williams' class, AAAS 130b: Black Brandeis, Black History

Search Tips

Start by brainstorming keywords and search terms. Use subject headings or descriptors to help generate search terms.

When you find a good article, look at its References or Works Cited list. That will often lead you to other useful sources.

If you see an article you'd like to read but you don't see a PDF for the article, click on the  "GET IT" button. This will open a new window that will allow you to see if Brandeis has access to the article through another database or if Brandeis has the article in print. If Brandeis doesn't have the article online or in print, you'll see an option to request the article through Interlibrary Loan

Be sure to mine the citations of any secondary sources you use--these citations can point you toward excellent sources that you might not come across while doing keyword searching. 

Example of citation mining for class

Finding Books for Your Research

Try exploring the Library Catalog for books related to your topic. If Brandeis does not have a book you need, you can use WorldCat to search for books from other libraries and then request these books through Interlibrary Loan.

Search tip: 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.

Recommended Databases

For a broad search, start the Articles & More tab of the Library's OneSearch. The Articles & More tab searches across many of our subscription academic databases to find individual articles from journals, newspapers, magazines, and more. 

For a more focused searched, try one of these recommended databases:

Depending on the focus of your research, you may also want to explore some subject-specific databases. For example, if you are researching a singer, you may want to try a database focused on music. If you are researching an author, you may want to choose a database focused on literary criticism.