AFR 215: Unpacking Blackness, Ethnicity, and Identity in the African Diaspora

This guide provides some useful starting places and strategies for doing research for this course. I am happy to consult with you on any aspect of your research, from developing a research question to finding, evaluating, and citing sources.  Email me or make an appointment on my calendar.

Doing some initial searches in SuperSearch can be a great way to begin to explore a topic from many angles through a wide variety of sources from multiple disciplines. Start with a simple keyword search and scan the results, paying attention to aspects of the topic that jump out at you or resonate with you. Make note of key terms and subjects that you can use to focus or expand your search. Some tips:

• Start with a broad keyword search and scan the results to discover different themes, approaches, and interpretations, e.g., 
  • food justice
• Scan the Subjects that come up in your results list for useful terms to try in new searches.

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• Use the filters to focus your search. For example, limit to books and e-books or scholarly (peer-reviewed) journals, or use the publication date filter to find articles or books published the last 5 or 10 years.

Specialized encyclopedias, handbooks, companions, and other reference sources can also be very helpful for exploring a topic. They can summarize knowledge around a topic, synthesize scholarly discussions, and define key concepts. They often include bibliographies as well, making them a good resource for identifying key books and articles on a topic. Try searching for a topic in one of the following databases to search multiple reference sources at once. 

You can also search or browse individual reference works. Here are some selected titles related to topics of this course.

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