ENGLISH 190: Early America/ Native America

Ask a Librarian 24/7 Chat

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:46:06 -0700

Research Advisory Service

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:46:48 -0700

Research Advisory Service for Cal Undergraduates

Book a 30-minute appointment with a librarian who will help refine and focus research inquiries, identify useful online and print sources, and develop search strategies for humanities and social sciences topics (examples of research topics).

Schedule, view, edit or cancel your appointment online (CalNetID required)

This service is for Cal undergraduates only. Graduate students and faculty should contact the library liaison to their department or program for specialized reference consultations.

Doe, Main Stacks, Moffitt Library floorplans

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:09:10 -0700

Looking for a location in Doe, Main Stacks or Moffitt? Try these floorplans or ask for help from a staff member.

Using call numbers to find books

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:39:52 -0800

Books and journals are arranged on our shelves according to the Library of Congress (LC) classification system. Each is assigned a unique call number based on its subject matter and other characteristics. Items on the same subject will often be grouped together.

Each call number consists of several elements. For example, consider:

E
83.83
T73
2006

The FIRST line, E, is based on the broad subject of the book. Class E indicates the general subject American History.

The SECOND line, 83.83, defines the subject matter more finely. When looking for the book, read this as a whole number with a decimal component. In this example, E83.83 represents Indians of North America.

The THIRD line, T73, usually indicates author, but may also represent a further subject subdivision, geographic area, etc. There may also be a fourth line, formatted the same way. When looking for the book, read the numeric component as if it were preceded by a decimal point. In the example above, the numeric part of T73 should be read as ".73" (and the call number E83.83 T73 comes before E83.83 T8).

The YEAR of publication, such as 2006, may also be present. These file in chronological order and often indicate successive editions of a book. The call number may also have additional elements, such as volume numbers.

In using a call number to locate a book on the shelf, consider each element in turn before moving on to the next segment.

These call numbers are arranged as they should appear on the shelves. In each case, the element shown in boldface distinguishes the number from the preceding one:

Q
76
K26

QA
17
F75

QA
17.1
C98

TK
3
Z37

TK
29
M49

TK
29
M5
1997

TK
29
M5
2007

Journal Tips

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:48:54 -0800

Consult E-Journal titles A-Z for the most current coverage of electronic journals. Most are licensed and some are open access, that is, freely available.

When checking OskiCat or Melvyl to see if Berkeley subscribes to a journal, use the journal's title in the search and not the author or title of the article you want. Oski does not list individual articles, and Melvyl has only a few.

When the Oski record indicates that the library has e-access through several sources, that information lets you know that the title is important.

Older issues of paper journals are stored in NRLF; use Request in Oski to ask that journals be brought back to campus for you to use or to have NRLF staff scan the article you need and email it to you.

To find articles about your subject, use indexes. The key index for literature is the Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLAIB). The key index for scholarly materials about the history of what are now the United States and Canada is America: History and Life and about Native Americans is Bibliography of Native North Americans; these two indexes may be searched at the same time.

JSTOR is a large database of over a 1000 scholarly journals, but publishers are allowed to embargo new issues from a time period of 1-10 years, so the newest issues may not be available.

Project Muse offers newer issues of articles published in over 500 scholarly journals. Some journals offer all issues published while others offer only the newer ones.

Style Manuals

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:50:19 -0800

When preparing a bibliography, you’ll want to establish which style sheet your professor wishes you to use. For undergraduate English classes, the preferred style sheet is often the Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. This publication also contains valuable information about the entire research process from choosing a topic, to avoiding plagiarism, to formatting the paper.

MLA handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th edition. New York : Modern Language Association of America, 2009.
Doe Reference Reference Hall LB2369 .G53 2009
Main Gardner Stacks LB2369 .G53 2009

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab created the MLA Formatting and Style Guide, which is quite useful.

Other common style manuals:

Columbia Guide to Online Style (UCB-only access)
Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor. 2nd ed. NY: Columbia Univ. Press. 2006.

The Chicago Manual of Style (UCB-only access)
15th ed. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003. Searchable, online version of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition).

Cite Right: A Quick Guide to Citation Styles--MLA, APA, Chicago, the Sciences, Professions, and More (UCB-only access) Charles Lipson. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 2006.

OskiCat

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:13:23 -0800

OskiCat is the online catalog for many of the campus libraries (but not all). Oski will reveal which books and periodicals we have along with what's in our film and map collections. It does not contain indivisual periodical articles; to find them, you must use indexes.

A productive way to begin using Oski is by doing a key word search. For instance, try this search:

indian* captivit* narrative*

At 2:54 on February 21, 2013, this search produced 645 records. Using the box that, by default, says Entire Collection, you may sort the results or limit to specific formats or library locations. You may also sort by date or title. Let's take a look at a record:

Title	Women's Indian captivity narratives / edited with an introduction and notes by Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola.
Imprint	New York : Penguin Books, 1998.

Permanent link for this record: http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b15166828~S1

Location	Call No.	Status
Moffitt	E85 .W85 1998	AVAILABLE
Native American Studies	E85 .W85 1998	AVAILABLE	1 WEEK LOAN

Details

Description	xxxviii, 356 p. ; 20 cm.
Series	Penguin classics
	Penguin classics.
Bibliography	Includes bibliographical references.
Subject	Indian captivities -- United States.
	Women prisoners in literature.
Added Author	Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle, 1949-
ISBN	0140436715

From this record, you'll see the full title of the book, its editors, place and year of publication and publisher. You'll also see that the book is available in two libraries, Moffitt and the Ethnic Studies Library (clicking on Native American Studies links you to Ethnic Studies). You'll find the call number and see that neither copy is checked out. Clicking on the Library of Congress Subject Heading Indian captivities--United States will lead you to more items with this particular subject heading.

Let's look at another record:

Author	Christie, Stuart, 1967-
Title	Plural sovereignties and contemporary indigenous literature / Stuart Christie.
Imprint	New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Permanent link for this record: http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b17621407~S1

Location	Call No.	Status
Main (Gardner) Stacks	PS153.I52 C49 2009	DUE 11-03-13

Details

Edition	1st ed.
Description	xiv, 280 p. : ill., map ; 22 cm.
Bibliography	Includes bibliographical references (p. [231]-265) and index.
Contents	I: Representations -- Blood legacies: pathology and power in works / Sherman Alexie and A. A. Carr -- National captivity narratives in Welch, Silko, and Armstrong -- Trickster's gamble: capitalizing indigenous discourse in Vizenor's The heirs of Columbus and Erdrich's The bingo palace -- II: Futures -- Recovering sovereignty in Louis Owen's Dark river -- Indigenous wormholes: reading plural sovereignties in works / Thomas King.
Subject	American literature -- Indian authors -- History and criticism.
	Identity (Psychology) in literature.
	Racially mixed people -- United States -- Intellectual life.
	Racially mixed people -- Canada -- Intellectual life.
	Indians of North America -- Intellectual life.
	Racially mixed people in literature.
	Imperialism in literature.
	Indians in literature.
ISBN	023061342X (alk. paper)

Click on Christie's name. Has he written other books? on this subject? Who publishes his books--you're starting to establish Christie's expertise on the subject. What do you know, if anything, about the press? The records shows that Christie includes a bibliography of references, and the length of the bibliography indicates that it's extensive and might be helpful to you in your research. You may also look for book reviews in America: History and Life or in Academic Search Complete. What do you know, if anything, about the press?

When a book is checked out, use the Request buttom just under the blue Oski banner to initiate a recall. The library will get in touch with the person who has the book and ask that it be returned within the next week. Use the Request button to bring back items stored in NRLF, the regional storage facility.

You may encounter records such as this one:

Corporate Author	Edward E. Ayer Collection (Newberry Library)
Title	Narratives of captivity among the Indians of North America [electronic resource] : a list of books and manuscripts on this subject in the Edward E. Ayer Collection of the Newberry Library : Supplement I / by Clara A. Smith ...
Imprint	Chicago, Ill. : The Newberry Library, 1928.

Permanent link for this record: http://oskicat.berkeley.edu/record=b19221702~S1

Link to online version(s):
HathiTrust Digital Library. Freely available.

Details

Description	1 online resource (vii, [1], 49, [3] p.)
Note	Includes index of captive's names.
Reproduction	Electronic reproduction. [S.l.] : HathiTrust Digital Library.
Note	Description based on print version record.
Subject	Edward E. Ayer Collection (Newberry Library)
	Indian captivities -- North America -- Bibliography.
Added Author	Smith, Clara A.
Added Title	Narratives of Indian captivity.

HathiTrust is one of several sources for online books. Click on the link to get to the item.

Indexes

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:07:14 -0800

Most databases offer help screens with information about structuring your search and other tips. Often the links to help are in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Familiarizing yourself with the database's protocols is a good way to produce successful searches.

Modern Language Association International Bibliography (MLAIB) (UCB only) The MLAIB is the largest index of critical scholarship on literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, containing over 2 million citations. The online version starts with the 1926 annual bibliography, but coverage of JSTOR titles goes back to the first issue published.

until 1956, most of the items included in the bibliography were written by scholars in the U. S.
subject indexing expanded dramatically in 1981; entries before that time usually have only the subject author’s name, national literature and century as descriptors.
does not include book reviews and did not index most monographs, especially collections of essays, until recently. Users must consult catalogs to ensure finding monographs or collections of essays.
use the layout of the advanced search box to create a Boolean search: (1) put synonyms in the rows (across)—the search results will have to have at least one of those words (2) words in different rows will be ANDed together and the search results will have to include words from all the rows.
use truncation symbols: * for variant endings and ? for internal truncation—for example, dickens* will yield Dickens, Dickensian, Dickens’s, etc. The search wom?n will bring results with woman and women. When you get no results from a search, try truncating the term(s).
author searches bring the work of scholars, not of literary authors. Use key word or descriptor searches to get scholarly items about an author
UC e-Links will lead you to full-text of articles or to the Melvyl catalog, where you can see if Berkeley or another UC library has the item. If Berkeley does not own, use the orange request button to bring up an online interlibrary loan form.

Once on the EBSCO screen, by clicking on Choose Databases above the search boxes, these three databases may be searched together. Stick to key word or name searches if you are searching different resources at the same time.

Academic Search Complete (UCB only) A multidisciplinary index to articles in thousands of journals with full-text for many.

sometimes indexes newer articles before the MLAIB
indexes book reviews of scholarly books and of fiction, poetry, drama, movies
can search several indexes at once by clicking on “Choose databases” above the search box(es)
good place to start doing research for topics that go beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries

America: History and Life Index to scholarship about U.S. and Canadian history.

Bibliography of Native North Americans A database covering all aspects of native North American culture, history, and life. Dates of coverage for included content range from the Sixteenth Century to the present.

Primary Sources

mburnett@library.berkeley.edu (Michaelyn Burnette) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:48:32 -0800

Archive of Americana A family of primary source collections providing references to books, pamphlets, broadsides (Early American Imprints, Series I (1639-1800) and Series II (1801-1819)), newspapers (Early American Newspapers) and government publications (American State Papers and U.S. Congressional Serial Set).

American Periodicals Series Online, 1740-1900 Contains digitized images of more than 1,100 periodicals. Includes special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines and many other historically significant magazines.

19th Century U.S. Newspapers Images of both full pages and clipped articles for hundreds of 19th century U.S. newspapers. For each issue, the newspaper is captured from cover-to-cover, providing access to every article, advertisement and illustration.

Making of America (Cornell) and Making of America (Michigan) together contain over 10,000 monographs and thousands of journal articles published in the U.S. in the 19th century.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) When finished, this collection will contain images of almost every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700.

Periodicals Index Online Indexes millions of articles published in over 6,000 periodicals in the arts, humanities, and social sciences and published between 1665-1995.

Periodicals Archive Online An online periodical archive that provides access to some 600 digitized journals in the humanities and social sciences.