Where to find resources for your Chicana and Chicano Studies research assignments. Document types include encyclopedias, books, book articles, journal, magazine, and newspaper articles, and websites.
Library databases -- including our Library Catalog -- contain information about and, in many cases, full text for periodical articles, newspaper articles, books, book articles, dissertations and thesis, and other materials.
If you are expecting to see a cool search "widget" here that allows you to search a whole bunch of databases at once, I am afraid that won't really work for Chicana and Chicano Studies topics.
Why? Because ...
THE MOST USEFUL DATABASES WILL DEPEND ON YOUR TOPIC.
For example, if your topic is about Chicano Art you should consider taking a look at the listings of Art databases, Chicano Music, try the Music databases, Chicano literature then it would be the literature databases, social issues in the Chicano community will need our sociology databases, the history of Chicanos, then history databases, education, politics, etc.
If you do not find resources covering your topic in this guide, you should consider checking out the Databases by Subject area under Find Databases for additional resources.
There are also many useful web sites that can contribute valuable information for your research. Government and non-government organizations often gather statistical data, conduct research studies, and collect information from other sources on thousands of topics of interest to researchers. It is important to know where you are and to consider who and why a web site was created.
Please explore the links below that can give you more information about possible resources for Chicana and Chicano Studies topics.
Do "preresearch" on your topic before you get bogged down in the details. Articles in subject encyclopedias and academic reference books can bring you up-to-speed on your topic, provide definitions, background information, timelines, dates, basic statistics, bibliography and lists of additional resources, and even theoretical explanations about how we know what we know about a topic. Online encyclopedias often contain additional content such as images, videos, links to websites, etc. Find additional print reference books on your topic by searching the library's catalog.
Database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. Provides searchable full-text e-book versions of over 3,500 reference works, including multi-volume encyclopedias, biographical collections, business plan handbooks, company history compilations, consumer health references, and specialized handbooks, dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. in a wide range of subject areas. Full-text detailed reports on controversial social, economic, political, educational, health, environmental, technology, and current topics. Each report includes an abstract, overview, background summary, current situation, outlook, special focus, chronology, pro/con, and bibliography. Covers a wide range of controversial topics and results may include sources such as magazine, newspaper or journal articles, government documents, political position papers, public policy statements, legal and legislative materials, pamphlets, statistical data, biographies, court cases, and links websites. Includes Grove Art Online, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Oxford Companion to Western Art, and Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms. Provides artist biographies, thematic timelines, over 40,000 image links. Limited to 25 simultaneous CSU system-wide users. This music encyclopedia includes the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Grove Dictionary of Opera, New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Grove Dictionary of American Music, Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, Oxford Companion to Music, Oxford Dictionary of Music and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music. It is recommended to students of all levels as a beginning point for research. Includes Childhood Studies, Latin American Studies, Latino Studies, Psychology, Social Work and Sociology. The annotated bibliography with supporting explanations presents the preeminent research on these subjects. Editors are distinguished scholars in their field and resulting citations are highly recommended.