Introduction
On this page you will find searching tips, keywords and phrases, how to use Boolean Operators, databases & select journals to help you in your research.
Searching Tips
When searching within the databases, keep the following tips in mind:
- Select Full-Text to retrieve articles that can be read immediately
- Select Peer reviewed or Refereed to view articles from scholarly journals
- Enter in keywords rather than full sentences
Cataloging is an inherently biased practice and thus still uses terms and phrases that are considered outdated or racist. The Library of Congress Subject Heading classification system was created in 1897 and many of the subject headings still reflect the language that is no longer acceptable or used.
For example, the subject headings "colored people (united states)" and "negro" are considered variants of the African American subject heading within the Library of Congress classification system.
Please be aware that you may have to use terms and phrases that are outdated or racist in your search due to how things are indexed within journals and databases. It is sometimes necessary to use terms that are outdated in order to perform a comprehensive search.
The Subject Headings used in databases are set by that specific database, so again, please be aware that you may have to use or come across terms that are outdated or racist.
Keywords and Phrases
Use the following search terms, keywords, and phrases in QuickSearch to locate articles about that topic. Remember, you can combine search terms using Boolean Operators.
- African American
- Afro-American
- African Diaspora
- Afrocentricity
- Civil Rights Movement
- Black Studies
- Race or Racism
- Black Americans
- Negros
- People of Color
- Discrimination
- African American Identity
Boolean Operators
Use Boolean Operators as a way to narrow or broaden your search:
AND: use to combine different concepts or keywords; each result will contain all search terms
Example: race AND libraries
OR: use to connect similar concepts or keywords; each result will contain at least one of the search terms
Example: medicine OR health
NOT: use to exclude words or concepts; tells the database to ignore concepts implied by your search
Example: technology NOT database
Parentheses ( ): place around related terms to search for more than one group of keywords
Example: (teaching OR education) AND race
Asterisk *: use at the end of a keyword to search words that start with the same letters
Example: education AND librar*
Quotation marks “ ”: place around phrases to search for words in that exact order
Example: “civil rights” AND teaching
Databases
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Get full-text access to magazines, newspapers, and scholarly journals in the sciences, social sciences, business, education, and the humanities. Full-text may be available via Find-It. Useful place to begin broad searches for general topics.
- African Americans and Jim Crow, 1883-1922
African Americans and Jim Crow: Repression and Protest offers more than 1,000 fully searchable printed works critical for insight into African-American culture and life from the beginning of Jim Crow to World War I and beyond.
- African Americans and Reconstruction: Hope and Struggle, 1865-1883
African Americans and Reconstruction: Hope and Struggle provides nearly 1,400 fully searchable printed works essential for understanding the African-American struggle for identity from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of Jim Crow.
- African History and Culture: 1540-1921
Includes fully cataloged and searchable books, pamphlets, almanacs, broadsides and ephemera covering the history, peoples, and social and economic development of the African continent from the 16th century to the early 20th century. All areas of Africa and important adjacent regions are covered.
- Afro-Americana Imprints 1535-1922 This link opens in a new window
An important collection of Afro-Americana Imprints, 1535-1922 useful to African-American studies. Includes a wide range of archival materials including books, pamphlets and broadsides. Coverage includes the West's discovery and exploitation of Africa; the rise of slavery in the New World; the growth and success of abolitionist movements; the development of racial thought and racism; and descriptions of African American life -- slave and free.
- Black Authors: 1556-1922
Created from the renowned holdings of the Library Company of Philadelphia, Black Authors, 1556-1922, is the most complete and compelling collection of its kind. It offers more than 550 fully catalogued and searchable works by black authors from the Americas, Europe and Africa.
- QuickSearch
QuickSearch combines results from many search tools for you to review in one list. Results come from the Wright State catalog and hundreds of library databases including all of our Ebscohost databases, JSTOR, the Web of Science, and others.
- Race Relations Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Search citations to articles on ethnic studies, discrimination, immigration, and race interactions. Links to full-text when available. Includes content from 1975 to the present.
Select Journals
- Journal of Black Studies
Full Text: 09/01/1970 - present
Articles containing full analytical discussion of economic, political, sociological, historical, literary and philosophical issues related to persons of African descent. - Journal of African American Studies
Full Text: 06/01/2003 - present
Serves as a multidisciplinary forum for social scientists engaged in the analysis of the struggles and triumps of black males. Challenges stereotypes and identifies strategies and policies that can counter the problems black men face. - The Black Scholar
Full Text: 06/01/1991 to present (with a 18 Month delay)
Presents African-American essays on a broad range of issues of concern to scholars in sociology, history, literature, political science, health, art, women's studies and ethnic studies. - The Negro Educational Review
Full Text: 07/01/1999 to present
Scholarly articles & research; analyses & descriptions of societal problems; significant compilations & creative works related to black people.