INTRODUCTION

FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

SELECTED PRINT REFERENCE SOURCES

FIND BOOKS IN LAVERY LIBRARY AND BEYOND

FIND ARTICLES AND MORE

FIND WEBSITES

INTRODUCTION
This subject guide includes resources for the study of the history of Africa excluding the countries of the Middle East, which are addressed in a separate subject guide. Please see the related subject guide World History as well.

FIND BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Reference Books are located on the Main Level of Lavery Library.

Reference books provide background information to help you understand your topic, narrow your topic, or prepare an outline of your topic. They also help define terms related to your topic, provide assistance in the selection of subject terms for your database searches, and contain factual information, such as, statistics, biographies, and maps.

SELECTED PRINT REFERENCES SOURCES:

Literature and Research Guides
DT3.B87 2000
Guide to African American and African Primary Sources at Harvard University
Use this guide to identify titles, many of which are available in the Rochester area.

Encyclopedias
DT15 .E53 2000
Encyclopedia of African Peoples

DT3 .A249 2002 REF
Africa: An Encyclopedia for Students

DT351.E53 1997 REF
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara

DT2.E53 1997 REF
Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa

Dictionaries
DT1772.S38 2000
Historical Dictionary of South Africa

Atlases
G2446.S1K3 1998
The History Atlas of Africa

G2446.S1M34 1995
The Penguin Atlas of African History

Biographies
CT103 .V39 2001
The Penguin International Dictionary of Contemporary Biography From 1900 to the Present

Statistical Sources
HA4675 .M552 1998
International Historical Statistics : Africa, Asia & Oceania, 1750-1993

FIND BOOKS IN LAVERY LIBRARY AND BEYOND
The key to the library's extensive book collection is the Library Catalog. It may be searched by Author, Title, Subject, or Keyword. Subject headings are established by the Library of Congress. If you have any trouble selecting a Subject heading for your topic, try a Keyword search or check the listings in the Library of Congress Subject Headings red books (Z 695 .L69 2001 REF) in the Reference area near the main floor computers.

Subject Headings which may be useful to you for Africa History

Africa—History
[name specific country]—History
Africa—In Literature

If you would like to browse in the Africa History section of the library, the main call numbers are DT's.

Circulating books are all located on the upper level.

Link to the Library Catalog from the library's home page http://library.sjfc.edu

Find books in Other Libraries by selecting Library Catalog from the library's home page, then select Other Library Catalogs.

Search the world for books by selecting WorldCat from the databases listed under Research Databases. From the library's home page, select Research Tools, select Research Databases, then select WorldCat from the alphabetized list.

To order a book from another library use the online Interlibrary Loan form, accessible from the library's home page http://library.sjfc.edu.

FIND ARTICLES AND MORE
Lavery Library subscribes to an extensive collection of Research Databases that may be used to search for articles on your topic in periodicals, newspapers, and book chapters. Periodicals include both scholarly journals and popular magazines. When researching for courses in your major, it is usually recommended that you use scholarly articles, also referred to as peer reviewed or refereed articles. Databases will often allow you to limit your search to scholarly articles.

If the article cited on the database that you are using does not appear in full-text on the database, check Periodical Holdings to determine if the periodical is either full-text on another database or available in hard copy in the library's collection. From the library's home page, select Research Tools, then select Research Databases.

Research Databases are listed both alphabetically and by subject on the library's home page. When starting research in African History, the following databases are recommended:

Historical Abstracts
JSTOR
Expanded Academic
Proquest Databases

Link to Subject Listing of databases available for Humanities and Art

FIND WEBSITES
When using websites for research it is very important to evaluate their authority and content. Use the following checklist to evaluate sites before using them as references.

Evaluating Web Sites Checklist

Your liaison librarian has provided a list of quality websites for African History. They are available on the library's home page under "Selected Websites" Select History, select World History, and select Africa.

To search for additional websites, start with Google - http://www.google.com.