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• Learning outcomes
• Gathering background information
• Locating books
• Locating articles
• Web resources
• Citing sources

At the end of this session you will:

• know where to find information on Latin American civilization to help you narrow or define your research topic
• be able search the library catalog effectively by author and/or subject
• learn how access books not in the library collection through the Multi-Library search
• know which online periodical indexes are best for research on Latin American culture
• be able to use the FIND IT service to locate full text articles
• have a list of subject directories and sites to guide your web research
• know that you have access to MLA style guides 24/7
  

Quick Links

Modern Languages Portal

Using Interlibrary Loan and Universal Borrowing

Modern Languages Department homepage

Download the LibX plugin for your Internet browser!

These reference sources provide overviews that can help you explore and refine your topic. They may also suggest other useful materials for your research.

Archaeology of Ancient Mexico and Central America (REF F1218.6 .A73 2001)
Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures (REF F1218.6 .O95 2001)
Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture (REF F1406. E53 1996)
Encyclopedia of World Geography (REF G133 .E48 2002)
Atlas of World History (REF ATL G1030 .O85 1999)
Times Atlas of World History (REF ATL G1030 .T54 1993)
Historical Atlas of Central American (REF ATL G1551 .S1 H2 2001)
Encyclopedia of Anthropology (REF GN11 .E63 2006)

ARTstor The ARTstor Digital Library currently contains nearly 500,000 images. This continually expanding image library supports the needs of teachers and students throughout the arts and humanities. ARTstor documents artistic traditions across all times and cultures and embraces architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual and material culture. Coverage from 3000 BCE to present.

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Creating a Search Strategy:

Use Boolean Operators to combine keywords, expand, or narrow a search!

Note: Always use parentheses around "key phrases" (i.e., more than one word). This will ensure that the system searches for the entire phrase, rather than each single word.

Books in this library : Use the Library Catalog to find books owned by this library. You can search either by subject heading or keywords. Subject headings related to Latin American civilization and culture include:

Aztecs
Indians of Central America
Indians of Mexico
Indians of South America
Mayas
Mochica Indians

You can browse these shelves in the Library or use these call numbers to browse the Library Catalog using its call number search option.

E51-73 PreColumbian America. The Indians
F1201-3799 Latin America, Spanish America

Books in other libraries : The Library Catalog allows you to identify books owned by other University of Wisconsin libraries. Click on Multi-Library Search to look for items held by other libraries in the UW System.

Electronic books : The Library's collection of electronic book is accessed though netLibrary. It includes approximately 2,000 recently books published scholarly books, which can be accessed online. The full-text of these books is searchable.

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Step 1: Use an index to find citations to journal articles on your topic. The periodical indexes listed below will help you find citations to journal articles and other publications. You may search for articles by subject headings, keywords, or by author. Note that most indexes do NOT include the full-text of articles. Therefore, you'll need to go on to step 2, below, once you have selected some citations.

Start with these indexes:

AnthroSource is the premier online resource serving the research, teaching, and professional needs of anthropologists. Developed by the American Anthropological Association (AAA), AnthroSource brings 100 years of anthropological material online to scholars and the public.

Ebsco's Academic Search Complete covers a wide range of academic areas, including Social Science and related fields. It features the full-text for over 1,000 journals. Restrict your search to scholarly journals by selecting the Advanced Search option and limiting your search to Peer-reviewed journals.

Historical Abstracts is a complete reference guide to the history of the world from 1450 excluding the United States and Canada. Over 2000 journals are covered.Humanities Full Text covers core journals in the humanities, including archeology, film, classics, folklore, linguistics, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion, world history, and world literature, from 1984 to present. This database is partially full text.

SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. Its extensive scope and content provide users with a wealth of extremely useful information encompassing the broad spectrum of sociological study. The database features more than 1,600,000 records with subject headings from a 15,600 term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. This product also contains informative abstracts for more than 720 "core" coverage journals dating as far back as 1895. In addition, this file provides data mined from more than 530 "priority" coverage journals as well as from over 2,800 "selective" coverage journals. Further, extensive indexing for books/monographs, conference papers, and other content sources is included. Searchable cited references are also provided. SocINDEX with Full Text offers comprehensive coverage of sociology, encompassing all sub-disciplines and closely related areas of study. These include abortion, criminology & criminal justice, demography, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, marriage & family, political sociology, religion, rural & urban sociology, social development, social psychology, social structure, social work, socio-cultural anthropology, sociological history, sociological research, sociological theory, substance abuse & other addictions, violence and many others.

Use a citation index to extend your search:

Social Science Citation Index is a multidisciplinary database, with searchable author abstracts, covering the journal literature of the social sciences. It indexes more than 1,725 journals spanning 50 disciplines, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from over 3,300 of the world's leading scientific and technical journals.Cited Reference Searching allows searching for articles that cite a known author or work because the information stored about each article includes the article's cited reference list (often called its bibliography).

Off-campus access: Databases accessed through the Library's Web site are licensed by the Library for the use of the University's students, faculty, and staff, and can be accessed from off-campus. If you are asked to login, you must enter your UW-Parkside email login and password. Your email account must already have been activated in one of the campus computer labs.

Step 2: Now that you have a citation to an article, does the Library own the journal? First, check the Library Catalog, to see if the Library subscribes to the journal and has the issue you need. Search the catalog by Journal Title. Next, check the UWP Periodical List to see if they are available full-text, often through databases such as Ebsco's Academic Search or if you have a complete citation, try the Citation Linker.

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Although you can search the World Wide Web by keyword using a search engine, browsing the Web sites below can help you find more authoritative information in the field of Latin American studies.

AncientWeb.org The Ancient web is an educational resource for the Art, History and Culture of the ancient world. Browse by civilization under Current Sites list.

Anthro.Net Use the search form above to find links and references for anthropology, archaeology, history, linguistics, psychology, sociology and other social sciences. The Anthro.Net database contains thousands of reviewed web sites and bibliographic references.

FAMSI - Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies Inc. was created in 1993 to foster increased understanding of ancient Mesoamerican cultures. The Foundation aims to assist and promote qualified scholars who might otherwise be unable to undertake or complete their programs of research and synthesis. Projects in the following disciplines are urged to apply: anthropology, archaeology, art history, epigraphy, ethnography, ethnohistory, linguistics, and related fields. The Research Department  provides access to the Barbara & Justin Kerr Photographic Collection, the Linda & David Schele Image Collection, the John Montgomery Drawing Collection, and the Bibliografía Mesoamericana. It also houses a Mesoamerican-oriented library that includes over 2600 volumes donated by Michael D. Coe. Projects funded by the Foundation are not restricted to investigations conducted on the Foundation premises.To go to the Research Department page, click here.

LANIC - Latine America Network Information Center Anthropology and Archaeology LANIC's mission is to facilitate access to Internet-based information to, from, or on Latin America. Our target audience includes people living in Latin America, as well as those around the world who have an interest in this region. While many of our resources are designed to facilitate research and academic endeavors, our site has also become an important gateway to Latin America for primary and secondary school teachers and students, private and public sector professionals, and just about anyone looking for information about this important region.

Library of Congress - HLAS Online (Handbook of Latin American Studies) is a bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars. Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the multidisciplinary Handbook alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities. Each year, more than 130 academics from around the world choose over 5,000 works for inclusion in the Handbook. Continuously published since 1936, the Handbook offers Latin Americanists an essential guide to available resources.

Web Evaluation Guide
(New Mexico University http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.htm

The MLA handbook for writers of research papers (Reference Desk LB2369 .G53 2009) provides the recommendations of the Modern Language Association for formatting papers and references.

How to Cite References Using MLA Style This online guide, prepared by this library, is also available in paper format in the guide rack near the Reference Desk.

 

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