History 344: East Africa since 1000: Environment, migration, identity

This guide has been designed as a starting point for your research for History 344.  If you need further assistance, please contact Rebecca Dowson, the History Librarian at 778-782-4304 or rda26@sfu.ca or Ask a Librarian.

Contents

1) Library Website - a few pointers!
2) Background Information
3)Getting What You Need from the Library Catalogue
4) Databases Historical Abstracts, Academic Search Elite, Humanities and Social Sciences Index
5) A few more hints and tips

1) The Library Website - a few pointers!

Key Points

Research Guides - It's a good place to start with any subject you are researching.
Library Catalogue - Try the Advanced Keyword search particularly if you are looking for certain date parametres or formats.
Article Indexes and Databases - I will show you three databases today Historical Abstracts, Academic Search Elite and Humanities and Social Sciences Index. You may want to explore databases in other subject areas other than History such as Resource and Environmental Management, Sociology or Human Geography. Remember, the more databases you use, the more comfortable you will get with research. Don't be afraid to explore.
SFU Library Style guides - This page is very helpful and contains our new and imrpoved style guides as well as pointers on citing and writing.

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2) Background Information

• The Europa world year book (Belzberg Reference, Bennett Reference D 2 E81) - all countries of the world plus international organisations.
• Encyclopedia of cultural anthropology.  3rd floor, Bennett Reference, GN 307 E52 1996
• Encyclopedia of world cultures. 3rd floor, Bennett Reference, and Belzberg Reference, GN 307 E53 1991
• Greenwood Press Endangered Peoples Of The World Series.   Includes volumes on the peoples of Europe, Latin America, Oceania, Southeast and East Asia and the Arctic. Check the library's catalogue of books for volume locations.
• Library of Congress Country Studies
• EarthTrends: the Environmental Information Portal (search the name of your country for reports and data)
• Social Watch: Country Reports

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3) Getting What You Need From the Library Catalogue

Use the Library Catalogue to find books owned by SFU Library.

For the purposes of your assignment you may want to use Advanced Keyword Search from the Library Catalogue (the fourth link from the topic under Other Types of searches. For the purposes of this demonstration I will be looking at "The use of historically traditional irrigation methods in Ethiopia and the impact on drought and farming."

When using keywords you may want to start broadly and then narrow your search:

i.e.ethiopia AND environment (the term AND ensures that both terms will appear in the library record)

or you could be more specific:

ie. ethiopia AND irrigation

Examine your results and look at the subject headings for each record. Here are some examples of subject headings:

Afar (African people) -- Social life and customs.

Ethiopia -- Social life and customs.

Ethnology -- Ethiopia

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4) Databases Historical Abstracts, Academic Search Elite, Humanities and Social Sciences Index

Every library now has a virtual collection as well as a physical collection. Remember that databases are purchased by the library, the information in these databases is not freely available on the internet.

• Historical Abstracts:
  • the best search engine for academic journal articles from History journals
  • it also includes history books and PhD theses/dissertations
  • start with a keyword search for your topic from the advanced search screen.
  • click the "Expand Record" button to see a short summary of the article, Subject Terms, etc.(remember you can click on the subject terms to combine them and make a new search)
  • click the "Where Can I Get This?" button to find out how you can get the article: (a) online, (b) in print on the 6th floor, or (c) order it from another library
  • to narrow a search to a specific decade, go to the Advanced search tab; in the Time Period field enter 1920d for the 1920's; for two decades do this: 1920d or 1930d
  • The Search History feature saves all of your searches so that you can go back and look and previous searches
  • Create your own personal list of articles by "tagging" them
  • Remember to save citations and use the export options if they are of interest.
• Academic Search Fulltext Elite This is a very good multi-disciplinary database and it contains a great deal of fulltext. You may want to try the visual search tab.
• Humanities and Social Science Index This is another very good database with a sociology focus and you may find it helpful for this assignment.
• You may want to try Google Scholar but remember to access it through the Library homepage to get maxiumum results.
• Check for email options in each database.

  Click here to get a full list of databases in History.

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5)A Few More Hints and Tips:

Some useful websites:

Internet Africa History Sourcebook

Africa Environment Outlook - From the United Nations

Africa Studies Centre - This site is hosted by the University of Pennsylvania and hosts a number of NGO and environmental organizations

Don't forget: you can always Ask a Librarian for help.

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