Keywords & Subject Headings:
When looking for resources in the Gordon Library catalog, a good initial strategy to guide your search is using subject headings as your keywords.
Subject headings are preferred, standardized terms developed by subject area experts, whereas 'keywords' are generally based upon natural or subjective language.
WPI uses Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Keyword searches look at most (if not all) of the words in a catalog record, but subject searches only look for words in the subject heading fields. Subject searches are more precise, creating specific results. Consider some of the approaches recommended by librarians in the following video--
Developing keywords for research
Run Time: 2:44
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Try using some of the listed subject terms links/ keywords to find resources supported by--and accessible through--the Gordon Library.
Term |
Example |
Result |
AND |
urban AND transportation |
Narrows the search to entries containing both terms. |
OR |
college OR university |
Broadens the search to entries containing either term. |
NOT |
bat NOT baseball |
Excludes entries containing the second term. |
“ ” |
“higher education” |
Retrieves results containing the exact phrase in quotes. |
? |
globali?ation |
Wildcard: Retrieves both globalization and globalisation. |
* |
feminis* |
Truncation: Retrieves feminism, feminist, feminists, etc. |
Check out some of the following tutorials related to the research process.
Library Searching in 60 Seconds
Run Time: 1:03
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Locating relevant databases for research
Run Time: 2:27
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Finding full-text videos
Run Time: 2:55
Key Student Learning Competencies:
Peer Review Overview
Run Time: 2:52
Key Student Learning Competencies:
The following tutorials will help students identify valid, legitimate, and scholarly rigorous information for your research.
TRAAP
Run Time: 3:17
Key Student Learning Competencies:
SIFT
Run Time: 1:52
Key Student Learning Competencies:
A peer-reviewed journal is a respected academic publication. Before articles are published within these types of journals, they are sent by the editors of the journal to other scholars in the field ("peers"), often anonymously, to get feedback on the quality of the scholarship, review research methods, as well as relevance or importance to the field. The article may be accepted, often with revisions suggested, or rejected for publication.
Peer-reviewed journals are highly respected, and researchers wish to have their works published in them. Many often have low acceptance rates.
One way to find peer reviewed articles is to type your keywords into WPI Library Search, and then choose the filter for Peer-reviewed Journals. You can also find examples of Journals for Gender and Sexuality Studies listed below, as well as in corresponding subject tabs of this guide.
You can also search our Databases for peer-reviewed articles.
Historical abstracts of North American and global history research journals, covering 1450 to the present.
HeinOnline’s Civil Rights and Social Justice database brings together a diverse offering of publications covering civil rights in the United States as their legal protections and definitions are expanded to cover more and more Americans. Containing links to more than 500 scholarly articles*, hearings and committee prints, legislative histories on the landmark legislation, CRS and GAO reports, briefs from major Supreme Court cases, and publications from the Commission on Civil Rights, this database allows users to educate themselves on the ways our civil rights have been strengthened and expanded over time, as well as how these legal protections can go further still. Also includes a varied collection of books on many civil rights topics and a list of prominent civil rights organizations.
A comprehensive periodical collection supporting significant aspects of gender in culture and society. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Google search for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports on all topic areas. Use to find articles from academic publishers, professional societies, prepublication repositories and universities.
Indexing and full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world on various humanities topics.
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Full text access to scholarly humanities, social sciences, and mathematics journals.
Over 1100 titles, many published on behalf of prestigious societies, organizations and associations such as: Association of American Geographers, American Planning Association, British Educational Research Association, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Search and explore the millions of quality, peer-reviewed journal articles published under the Taylor & Francis, Routledge and Dove Medical Press imprints.
A powerful search tool to streamline your library research. Entering terms into a single search box yields results that include: books and e-books, research and news articles, project reports, electronic theses and dissertations, archival materials, patents, open access collections and more.
Provides access to more than 2,300 major U.S. regional, national, and local newspapers, as well as leading titles from around the world. It also includes thousands of images, radio, and TV broadcasts and transcripts. This resource is provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC) in partnership with the Massachusetts Library System (MLS). The purchase is supported by funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Nexis Uni provides access to more than 17,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis. Nexis Uni includes: 1) full-text access to thousands of news sources (primarily newspapers, magazines and journals) in the U.S. and abroad back to the 1970s; 2) aggregated economic data - including company financial information, and SEC filings and reports - on businesses, corporations, and industries in the U.S. and abroad; 3) full-text legal documents, including U.S. Federal and State court cases, federal and state agency regulations, Shepard's Citations to Supreme Court cases (back to 1789), and law reviews from the late 18th century to present.
Search newspapers provided by ProQuest: the Boston Globe and the Historical New York Times, and various Newstreams
U.S. Newsstream enables users to search the most recent premium U.S. news content, as well as archives which stretch back into the 1980s featuring top newspapers, newswires, blogs, and news sites in active full-text format. For academic and public libraries, U.S. Newsstream offers exclusive access to the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and co-exclusive access (with Factiva) to The Wall Street Journal. U.S. Newsstream also offers one of the largest collections of local and regional newspapers, and is cross-searchable on the ProQuest platform.
Books
Class, Race, and the Civil Rights Movement by
Revised and updated: the award-winning historical analysis of the civil rights movement examining the interplay of race and class in the American South. In Race, Class, and the Civil Rights Movement, sociologist Jack M. Bloom explains what the civil rights movement was about, why it was successful, and why it fell short of some of its objectives. With a unique sociohistorical analysis, he argues that Southern racist practices were established by the agrarian upper class, and that only when this class system was undermined did the civil rights movement became possible. He also demonstrates how the movement was the culmination of political struggles beginning in the Reconstruction era and influenced by the New Deal policies of the 1930s. Widely praise when it was first published 1987, Race, Class, and the Civil Rights Movement was a C. Wright Mills Second Award-winning book and also won the Gustavus Myers Center Outstanding Book Award. In this second edition, Bloom updates his study in light of current scholarship on civil rights history. He also presents an analysis of the New Right within the Republican Party, starting in the 1960s, as a reaction to the civil rights movement.
The Great Migration and the Harlem Renaissance by 
Rethinking American Emancipation by eBook Databases
The ACLS Humanities Ebook Collection (ACLS HEB) presents thousands of foundational books in the humanities and social sciences from hundreds of publishers, with 150-200 new titles added annually. ACLS HEB is a collection curated by scholars for scholars; members of ACLS learned societies nominate books for inclusion.
200,000+ full text books on many topics: Business & Economics, Computers, Technology & Engineering, Humanities, Life & Physical Sciences, Social & Behavioral Sciences. For help using Ebook Central: https://proquest.libguides.com/ebookcentral
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Collection of over 4000 Open Access ebooks from Project Muse
e-Book collection of over 75,000 titles from Springer; most books can be downloaded in PDF format by chapter or book. **Full text access is available ONLY for WPI subscribed titles, not the full Springer collection.
Open Access Collections
In addition to the WPI library's offerings, there are open access collections available on the web. See below for some examples of these open access collection websites.
"Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more"
"The books in this collection cover a wide range of subjects, including history, music, poetry, technology, and works of fiction."
"The Library now makes it possible to download such items in the highest resolution available directly from the Digital Collections website."
Interlibrary Loan
If there is something you need that the WPI library doesn't have, you can request your item through interlibrary loan. Our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) service allows WPI students and faculty to request items from other libraries free of charge.
When starting a new research project, figuring out where to begin and how to narrow down your topic can be difficult. It is helpful to start by looking for background information on your topic.
Even if your topic is still broad, try looking for background information by searching in online encyclopedias or by doing a general Google search. Use these sources to find subtopics and relevant vocabulary associated with your topic. This new vocabulary will help you with your keyword searches. Look below for more information on developing keywords and for search strategies.
Typically, you will not cite encyclopedias in an academic project. Encyclopedias can be helpful for sparking ideas and finding important concepts that you will then find more information on in academic sources, such as peer-reviewed journal articles and books written by scholars.
Online Reference Sources
Contains 100+ dictionary, language reference, and subject reference works full text and searchable.
Reference Source Examples
Encyclopedia of African American Culture and History by
Users looking for authoritative and comprehensive information about black history, figures and accomplishments now have a defining and current reference to address their needs. The second edition of the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History is a much-needed expansion of the 1996 classic and its 2000 supplement. As with the earlier publications, the second edition is aimed at high school and college students, as well as the general reader. Whereas the first edition focused almost exclusively on the United States, this new set identifies and addresses broad themes critical to understanding the texture of the cultures, achievements, challenges and comprise North America, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Readers can find comparative analyses of social movements, languages, religions and family structures in the context of an interdisciplinary framework that fills a substantial gap in studies of this genre. While many articles from the original set have updated content and bibliographies, almost half of the second edition is composed of completely new scholarship.
Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present by
Focusing on the making of African American society from the 1896 "separate but equal" ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson up to the contemporary period, this encyclopedia traces the transition from the Reconstruction Era to the age of Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Brown ruling that overturned Plessy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the ascendant influence of African American culture on the American cultural landscape. Covering African American history in all areas of U.S. history and culture from 1896 to the present, the Encyclopedia contains approximately 1,200 fully cross-referenced entries that are all signed by leading scholars and experts, making this five-volume set the most reliable and extensive treatment to be found on African American history in the twentieth century. The set also contains 500 images and roughly 640 biographies, as well as an entry on each of the fifty states. In addition to its comprehensive coverage of African Americans, the Encyclopedia also contains entries about key figures who affected the lives of African Americans in particular and Americans in general. Unrivalled in breadth and scope, this is the preeminent source of information on this topic and is destined to become a trusted reference source for years to come.
Encyclopedia of Black Studies by
Click ′Additional Materials′ for downloadable samples The Encyclopedia of Black Studies is the leading reference source for dynamic and innovative research on the Black experience. The concept for the encyclopedia was developed from the successful Journal of Black Studies (SAGE) and contains a full analysis of the economic, political, sociological, historical, literary, and philosophical issues related to Americans of African descent. This single-volume reference is the vanguard of the recent explosive growth in quality scholarship in the field. More than a chronicle of black culture or black people, this encyclopedia deals with the emergence and maturity of an intellectual field over the past four decades. Beginning with the protests at San Francisco State College in 1967 that led to the first degree-granting department of Black Studies, the field′s rapid growth over time necessitates an authoritative account of the discipline. More than ever scholars and students need a clear conception of what the evolutionary processes have been in the creation and maintenance of the discipline. Chronology of Important Events in Black Studies 1966 Merritt College Black Studies Courses 1967 San Francisco State University Protests 1968 San Francisco State University Black Studies Program Established 1969 Cornell University students seize student center to protest harassment of African American Students 1970 University of California, Los Angeles opens Center for Afro American Studies 1969 Robert Singleton and Molefi Asante creates Journal of Black Studies 1972 National Black Political Convention of Gary, Indiana 1974 National Council of Black Studies founded 1982 Maulana Karenga′s Introduction to Black Studies published 1983 Mae Jemison who received majored in Black Studies and engineering is made the first African American female astronaut. 1986 Cheikh Anta Diop makes his transition 1988 Temple University approves doctoral program in African American Studies created by Molefi Kete Asante 1988 Toni Morrison wins Pulitzer Prize for Beloved 1990 Adeniyi Coker receives first Ph.D. in African American Studies 1992 Harvard University seeks "Dream Team" in African American Studies 1995 More than a million black men march in Washington, DC 1997 Phile Chionesu and Barbara Smith bring one million women to Philadelphia Key Features More than 240 signed articles by nearly 200 scholars, organized A to Z, with coverage spanning the social sciences Edited by the founder and current editor of the Journal of Black Studies Reader′s Guide facilitates browsing by topic and easy access to information Contains numerous illustrative charts, sidebars, and historical photographs Appendices with listings of doctoral granting programs, major journals in the field, and professional and scholarly associations Master Bibliography Key Themes * Afrocentricity * Annual Conferences * Anti-Racism * Arts * Associations and Organizations * Books * Campus Politics * Civil Rights * Classical Africa * Concepts * Culture * Departmental Histories * Films * Institutions * Intellectual Schools * Journals * Legal Issues * Movements * Newspapers * Political Issues * Professional Organizations * Publishers * Racism * Religion * Reparations * Research Centers * Resistance * Theories * United States Constitution Editorial Board Dr. Troy Allen, Southern University Dr. S.B. Assensoh, Indiana University Dr. Katherine Olukemi Bankole, West Virginia University Professor Leroy Bryant, Chicago State University Dr. Patricia Dixon, Georgia State University Howard Dodson, New York Public Library Dr. Lewis Gordon, Brown University Dr. Winston Van Horne, University of Wisconsin Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems, University of Missouri-Columbia Dr. Charles Jones, Georgia State University Dr. Maulana Karenga, California State University, Long Beach Dr. Manning Marable, Columbia University Dr. Miriam Monges, California State University, Chico Dr. Wade Nobles, San Francisco State University Dr. Emeka Nwadiora, Temple University Dr. James Turner, Cornell University
Encyclopedia of African-American Writing, Third Edition by
A timely survey of an important sector of American letters, African American Writers examines a multitude of black cultural leaders from the 18th century to the present. Updated through the present time, this new second edition covers the role and influence of African American cultural leaders from all walks of life Carefully written articles, with illustrations, cover the important events in a writer's life, education, major works, honors and awards, and family and important associates. A comprehensive, easy to use source that will complement the reference collection of any public, high school or university library, and will prove useful to all university humanities and African American studies reference collections.
