This guide lists useful research sources on international politics
available in Wesleyan's libraries and on the Internet, and is
intended to provide starting points for your research in this class.
For more extensive information, see the library's
Research
Skills Tutorial, sign up for a Personal
Research Session, or ask for assistance at the reference desk in
Olin Library (x3873).
Finding Background Information
Reference Sources
Use subject specific reference sources for brief
introductions to or summaries of people, ideas, concepts, etc.
relevant to your topic. When using different reference sources,
remember that the information they contain is often formatted and
presented in different ways, so always refer to introductory
guides, instruction sections, and indexes so that you will know
how to use them most effectively.
Reference sources are shelved by subject. Browse the following
sections of the Reference collection to find sources relevant to
this class:
BP 1-253 - Islam
50-68 - History
70-80 - Biography
75-77 - Muhammad
87-89 - Islamic literature
100-134 - Koran
166 - Theology (Kalam)
174-190 - The practice of Islam
191-253 - Branches, sects, and modifications
BL - Religion (General, etc.)
DS 35-326 - History and culture of the Middle East and Arab world
(see other areas in the D
call number ranges for history and culture of other countries/areas with
Muslim populations).
Here are a few useful sources in the Reference collection in
Olin Library. Browse the shelves in these areas or ask the
librarian at the reference desk for more:
Subject Encyclopedias, Dictionaries,
etc.
- Contemporary American Religion - BL 2525 .C65 1999 - Two volume
encyclopedia of ideas, beliefs, groups, and individuals significant to
religion in the United States. Several articles cover various aspects of
Islam in the U.S.
- New Encyclopedia of Islam - BP 40 .G42 2001 - An updated edition
of an encyclopedia written for the purpose of addressing the general lack of
knowledge of Islam in the Western world.
- Historical Dictionary of Islam - BP 50 .A33 2001 - A concise
dictionary of Islamic history, religion, philosophy, and political
movements.
- The Muslim Diaspora - BP 50 .J46 1999 - Comprehensive outline of
the spread of Islam in Asia, Europe, and the Americas from 570 to
1799.
- Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements - BP
60 .M36 1999 - Synopses of the origins, actions, ideas, and principles
of Islamic fundamentalist groups and their leaders in Arab countries, Iran,
and Turkey.
- A Concordance of the Qur'an - BP 133 .K37 - A guide to
understanding the Qur'an in English translations for those who do not read
Arabic.
- Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World - DS 35.53 .O95 1995
- A four volume set providing comprehensive, comparative, and systematic
coverage of contemporary Islamic societies.
Finding Books
CTW Online Catalog
Books at Wesleyan, Trinity, and
Connecticut College Libraries
You can search the
CTW
Online Catalog for books by author, title, or topic. If
you are searching for a topic and you do not know the appropriate
subject heading, or if you are searching for a combination of
subjects, it is best to start with a keyword search, which will
find anything in the catalog with that word or words anywhere in
the title, subject headings, or other notes. Once you find a few
books relevant to your topic, you can use any of the subject
headings assigned to each book to find all other items which have
been assigned that subject heading.
If you find few or no books on your topic, do another keyword
search using a broader or more general term. Subject headings and
titles for books usually indicate only the general topics of the
book, but a book on a broader topic may include a chapter or two
on your more narrow or specific topic. Also, if you find a book on
your topic, check the shelves around it when you get the book from
the stacks: books on the same or similar subjects will be shelved
near the one you found on the online catalog. Look at titles,
tables of contents, and indexes of books in the appropriate area
of the stacks to find other books useful for your research.
Other Databases to Search for
Books
- WorldCat
- An online catalog listing most of the books in most
libraries in the United States and in many libraries in other
countries. If you find books that are not in the CTW Catalog, you
can order them through Interlibrary Loan by clicking on the
ILL icon.
- Books
in Print - Books currently available for purchase from
U.S. publishers and distributors.
Finding Journal Articles
Indexes and Databases
To find journal articles, use the following indexes and
databases for citations to articles on specific topics. Then
consult the
CTW
Online Catalog and do a journal title search to see whether
the journal is available in the libraries' collections. This list
of databases includes those most likely to be relevant to research
in international politics. See the indexes
and databases page for a full list of Wesleyan Library's
online databases.
Online Indexes and Databases
-
Religion
Database - A comprehensive source for locating periodical articles, books, essays and book reviews in world
religions; covers items published since 1949.
- Expanded
Academic ASAP - Index, including many full text articles, covering
all areas of academic studies. Some journals are covered as far back as
1980, but coverage for most titles begins more recently.
- Social
Sciences Abstracts - An index, with many abstracts and some
full text articles, to scholarly sources in the social sciences;
covers articles published from 1984 to the present.
- Humanities
Abstracts - An index, with many abstracts and some
full text articles, to scholarly sources in the humanities; covers
articles published from 1984 to the present.
- Readers'
Guide to Periodical Literature - Provides citations and
abstracts, and some full text, to articles covering a very wide
variety of topics in popular journals.
- LEXIS-NEXIS
- Online access to many full text newspapers and magazines from around the
world.
Print Indexes
- Social Sciences Index - Ref Z7161
.S654 - Provides citations to articles in academic
journals covering all aspects of the social sciences. Library has
from 1974 to 1993 (1984 to present covered in online Index
to journal articles).
- Humanities Index - Ref AI 3
.H84 - Provides citations to articles in academic
journals covering all aspects of the humanities. Library has from
1974 to 1993 (1984 to present covered in online Index to
journal articles).
- Social Sciences and Humanities Index -
Ref AI 3 .S63 - This title preceded the
separate Humanities index and Social sciences index. Library has
from 1907 to 1974.
- Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature - Ref AI 3 .R
48 - Provides citations to articles covering a
very wide variety of topics in popular journals. Library has from
1890 to present.
Internet Resources
It is important to note that anyone can publish
information on the Internet. You need to be very careful about
evaluating
and citing
information found on the Web. Another good way of finding
government resources is to use a search
engine or subject
directory.
Finding
Information on the Web - An outline of how to use search
engines and subject directories to locate web sites relevant to
your research.
Indexes to Islamic Studies sites
- These sites list, and often evaluate, web sites
relevant to research in Islamic studies.
- Islamic Studies
page of the Virtual Religion Index by the Religion Department at Rutgers. A
collection of academic resources on Islam.
- Middle East & Islamic Studies Collection
site at Cornell features an extensive index covering web sites on all
aspects of Middle Eastern and Islamic issues.
- Islamic Studies Pathways
- An academic guide to Islamic studies resources on the Internet, compiled
by a Lecturer in Islamic Studies at University of Wales.
- Islamic Studies
Resources page from Academic Info, which "aims to be the premier educational directory to high school, college and
research level Internet resources."
- Islam
sites cataloged by the Librarians' Index to the Internet.
Selected Internet Sites -
use the web indexes listed above to find more
Islam Sites
- Islamic Studies
site by a religion professor at the University of Georgia - a scholarly
overview of Islam and related subjects, with extensive annotated indexes to
other web sites.
- Ummah.com - An online
compendium of information (including news, directories of organizations,
online discussions, and other resources) by Muslims for Muslims and people
interested in Islam.
- Nation of Islam
- Al-Quran.org
provides three English translations/interpretations of the Qur'an in
addition to the Arabic.
- The Koran -
"electronic version of The Holy Qur'an, translated by M.H. Shakir and published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, Inc., in 1983."
News Sites
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