Research by Subject: Asian American Studies(Bowdoin, Library)

Welcome!

Please select from the tabs above for your research needs. Do not hesitate to contact the librarian liaison if you need assistance.

Subject and Word Searching

Either subject or keyword searching can be successfully used to find relevant resources. Subject searching gives the best results when standardized Library of Congress Subject Headings are used. In general do a subject search to find particular information about a country or region and then use the limit command to narrow the search.

Some subject headings:

Asian American (followed by various subheadings). For example: Asian American Authors American Literature History And Criticism
Asian Americans (followed by various subheadings)
Asian Americans -- Ethnic identity
Asian Americans In Literature
Asian Americans -- Race identity

By Region of Descent

By Country of Descent

Call Number Searching

Browse the book shelves online by connecting to a major Asian section of the Library. Some examples follow:

Word Searching

A word search will pick up your key search words in book titles and contents notes as well as subject headings. These searches are extremely useful in finding material when the subject headings aren't obvious.

Examples:

Library Catalogs

Bowdoin College Library Catalog
Books, videos, government documents, etc. in Bowdoin's library.

NExpress
A combined catalog containing the library holdings of Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley, Williams, Middlebury, and Northeastern. Requests take 2-3 days.

MaineCat
Includes the holdings of most Maine libraries. Requests take 2-5 days

WorldCat
A combined database of many library catalogs worldwide. Request items found in WorldCat through our Interlibrary Loan service.

Periodical Indexes and Databases

Academic Search Premier
This multidisciplinary database provides either citations to journal articles or the full text of articles beginning in about 1980. Academic Search Premier is a great starting point for many research projects.

Alternative Press Index
1969- present. Coverage is international and interdisciplinary focusing on the humanities and social sciences. API indexes nearly 300 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines, with selected abstracts from research journals. Citations only, no full text.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index
1980 - present. A multidisciplinary index to journal articles and books in art, asian studies, dance, film studies, humanities, theater. Citations only, no full text.

America: History and Life
1964-present. Abstracts of articles and monographs covering the United States and Canada. No full text.

Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS)
1971-present. Relates to all aspects of Asia, including Asian America. Includes Amerasia Journal and Journal of Asian American Studies. Citations only, no full text.

MLA
1963- present. Includes citations to articles and books in classics, film studies, literature and criticism.

Sociological Abstracts
1963- present. Abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. Drawn from over 1,700 serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters.

Project Muse
Here you will find the full text of the Journal of Asian American Studies from 1998, as well as many other useful journals.

Reference Sources

Asian and Pacific Islander population in the United States, U.S. Census Bureau,
Print- Govt Doc C 3.186/28:
Online, 1996-

Asian American literature: reviews and criticism of works by American writers of Asian descent
Ref PS153.A84 A82 1999

Asian American writers
Ref PS153.A84 A845 2005

Atlas of Asian-American history
Ref E184.A75 A89 2002

Columbia documentary history of the Asian American experience
Main E184.O6 C63 2002

Dictionary of Asian American history
Ref E184.O6 D53 1986

Distinguished Asian Americans : a biographical dictionary
Ref E184.O6 D57 1999

Harvard Encyclopedia Of American Ethnic Groups
Ref E184.A1 H35

Statistical record of Asian Americans
Ref E184.O6 S73 1993

Periodicals

To see a list of Asian periodicals owned by Bowdoin, search by subject using the country or region, followed by subheading "periodicals"

Examples:

Newspapers

The library does not subscribe to any print Asian American newspapers. However, we subscribe to Ethnic Newswatch, a database featuring full text articles from newspapers and periodicals published by the ethnic and minority press in America, for example India Abroad and AsianWeek

Video Recordings

To locate Video Recordings in the library catalog first search by search by subject, for example, Asian American, then limit to material type "video recording".

Web Sites

Gateway Sites

Asian-Nation
http://www.asian-nation.org/index.shtml
A highly recommended site by C.N. Le, currently a visiting professor at UMass. "[O]ne-stop information resource and overview of the historical, demographic, political, and cultural issues that make up today's diverse Asian American community. You can almost think of Asian-Nation as an online version of 'Asian Americans 101'." Link categories include women, arts and entertainment, popular culture, health, gay and lesbian, online communities, civil rights, etc.

Gold Sea
http://goldsea.com/
Billing itself as an Asian American supersite, Goldsea has very current coverage of news and issues. Goldsea is primarily a career site with heavy advertising and little academic coverage.

AsiaSource-Asian American
http://www.asiasource.org/asianamerica/
"AsiaSource is an online resource developed by the Asia Society to meet the need for timely, reliable, unbiased information and assistance regarding the cultural, economic, social, historical, and political dimensions of Asia."

News

Pacific News Service
www.pacificnews.org
Covers politics, the economy, beliefs, rights, sci-tech, the environment, health, columns and hot topics.

NCM: New California Media
Asian: http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_category.html?category_id=35
South Asian http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_category.html?category_id=75
A nationwide association of over 700 ethnic media organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism. Founded in 1996 by Pacific News Service

Entertainment

Chop Block
http://www.chopblock.com/html/index.cfm
Movies, music, games, books, gear, etc.

Biography

Internet School Library Media Center Asian American Biography Page
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/asiabio.htm

Census

New Census Report, "We the People: Asians"
www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-17.pdf
"This report provides a portrait of the Asian population in the United States and discusses the eleven largest detailed Asian groups at the national level... [including] demographic, social, and economic characteristics."

2004 Statistical Portrait of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
http://www.census.gov/Press-
Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/001738.html Current census data, population projections, and internet links that should be useful for research, planning, writing and general educational purposes.

Health

Asian American Health
http://asianamericanhealth.nlm.nih.gov/
From the National Library of Medicine

History

The Chinese in California, 1850-1925
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award99/cubhtml/cichome.html

Chronology of Asian American History
http://web.mit.edu/21h.153j/www/chrono.html

Korean American Historical Society
http://www.kahs.org/

Chinese Historical Society of America
http://www.chsa.org/
The Chinese Historical Society of America is the largest established institution dedicated to the study, documentation, and dissemination of Chinese American history.

Chinese American Museum
http://www.camla.org/

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