MnPALS
Our library catalog. This link takes you into the "Basic Searches" screen where you can search by author, title, etc. The "Advanced Searches" option lets you limit by date, additional keywords, collection area, and so on. In your list of results, the Location column lists the call number--where the book is shelved. Note: Once you've located a book that looks interesting, browse the shelves around it. The Library of Congress classification system used in this library puts books on the same subject together.

MnLink
A shared catalog for many Minnesota libraries. One option (below the map) provides a search of Minnesota college and university libraries. Use the "request" button to obtain a book from another library. Use your bar code number as your username, your last name as a password.

Reference works are helpful at two points in your research: when starting out (by offering overview articles of, say, a writer and her work) or when nailing down unfamiliar terms, concepts, and topics that turn up during your research. Many reference book articles are written by experts and offer not only information but excellent bibliographies for further research.

Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience.2nd ed. 5 vols. New York: Oxford, 2005. (Ref DT14 .A37435 2005) A rich compendium of information about the African diaspora edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates.

American Immigrant Cultures: Builders of a Nation. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1997. (Ref  E 184 .A1 A63448 1997) Covers culture groups from Acadians to Zoroastrians, covering each groups defining features, patterns of cultural variation, immigration history, demographics, andcultural characteristics.

Avakian, Monique. Atlas of Asian-American History. New York: Facts on Files, 2002. (Ref E184.O6 A89 2002) Provides a history of Asians in America focusing on the issues of immigration, migration and racial discrimination. Many photographs, pictures, maps and charts accompany the text. Focuses on major immigrant groups including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Asian-Indian, Filipino and Southeast Asian peoples.

Countries and their Cultures. 4 vols. New York: Macmillan, 2001 (Ref GN 307 .C68 2001) Covers ethnic relations, cultural features, political life, the arts, etc.

Dictionary of Asian American History. New York: Greenwood, 1986. (Ref E 184 .O6 D53 1986) Includes essays on Asian populations in the U.S. and topics such as immigration, justice, politics, economics, education, etc. as well as dictionary of terms, people, places, events, terms, and institutions.

Encyclopedia of Asian History.  4 vols. New York: Scribner, 1988. (Ref DS 31 .E53 1987) Discusses people, places, events, and topics in detailed and well-documented essays, covering Central Asia, South Asia, and the Far East.

Encyclopedia of Modern Asia. 6 vols. New York: Scribner's, 2002. (Ref DS 4 .L48 2002) Intended to be the most comprehensive standard reference work on the region, this set covers East, Southeast, South, Central, and West-Southwest Central Asia, from Japan to Turkey, Khazakstan to Indonesia. The focus in on the twentieth century, with articles covering places, peoples, geography, the arts, economics, religion, and more.

Encyclopedia of World Cultures. 10 vols. Boston: G.K. Hall 1991-- . (Ref GN 550 .E53 1991)
Covers over 1,500 culture groups, alphabetically arranged within regions.  Summarizes information on the  distribution, belief systems, kinship structures, and history of the groups.

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. 2nd ed. 4 vols. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2004. (Ref DS 43 .E53 2004) Covers a wide variety of topics in politics, history, economics, religion, sociology, culture, and geography of 23 predominantly Muslim countries. Articles are intended for a non-specialist readership, and controversial issues are covered in a non-partisan manner.

Racial and Ethnic Relations in America.  3 vols. Pasadena, CA: Salem, 2000. (Ref E 49 .R33 2000) A good place to define terms, get historical context, or find short overviews of topics.

See also our guide to Ethnic and Area Studies for more reference works and selected Web directories devoted to a particular population or region of the world.

Databases for articles and other materials offer references to publications that may or may not be in this library; some databases offer full text of articles and others simply citations. There are in-depth databases that cover publications in a particular field and others that are interdisciplinary. Databases can be accessed from a drop-down list on the library's main page; descriptions can be found here.

Academic Search Premier
Searches both general magazines and scholarly journals on a wide variety of topics. Some are full text; others are merely citations to things that have been published. One way to limit a search is to check the "scholarly (peer reviewed) journals box to exclude popular magazines from your search.

Lexis/Nexis
A group of databases strong in news coverage, business, and legal information. For news from publications aimed at specific ethnic communities, choose Guided News Search - General News - Ethnic News.

Use the Web with care

Libraries often pay for services through the web; these aren't indexed in search engines Some "free" sites for magazines and newspapers charge for using their archives; library databases offer them at no charge. Some questions are easier to answer through the web than others. If it has to do with current events, the law, opinions, computers, popular culture, commercial products, organizations, or government affairs, the web offers a lot; if you're looking for research or scholarship, you aren't as likely to find what you want (though in some fields that is changing). Not everyone wants to give their research away for free.

Planning a search

• Think about what you need and which key words might describe it
• Think about what organizations or government entities might provide information on your topic
• Use what you find to refine your search (such as the name of an organization, a government agency, a site that everyone is linking to)
• Use selective directories if you have a broad topic (Search engines work best for narrow topics or specific facts.)
• Use an appropriate database if you aren't finding quality material

• edu = higher education (usually in the US)
• gov = federal government
• k12 = primary or secondary school
• com = company (often personal sites, too)
• org = organization
• net = network
• country abbreviations: ca (Canada); au (Australia); uk (United Kingdom) jp (Japan); se (Sweden) . . .

• shorten a URL to get to a root page by deleting everything after the first /
• follow links to find out about the page's author or sponsoring agency

• Who is the author? Why should you trust him/her?
• Where does the site come from? An organization? An individual? Which country?
• When was it put together? Is it frequently updated?
• What does it say? Does it make sense? Does it back up its claims?
• Why is it there? What is the author's purpose in presenting this information and does that purpose suggest a particular bias?

• Example One
• Example Two
• Example Three

• Example Four

In addition to general search engines, use these selective Web directories to find useful sites:

Infomine - a database of scholarly Web sites maintained at the University of California
Librarians' Index to the Internet - a more general guide to valuable Web sources, also based in California
Scout Archives - maintained at the University of Wisconsin
World Wide Web Virtual Library - the original Web directory

We can order books and articles from other libraries if you need something we don't have. For more information, visit the interlibrary loan page.

Citing Your Sources -- Includes basic models for MLA, APA, and Chicago citations as well as a link to a more detailed online guide and sample papers. If you're confused about whether you should cite a source or not, take a look at this explanation of plagiarism from the Purdue Online Writing Lab.