Resources for English 50: Introduction to Asian American Literature
Fall 2007

Finding published materials, especially scholarly articles on your topic requires the use of both print and online databases. The following resources below are good starting points to help you find materials on these works and themes discussed in your class. 

	assimilation	nationalism	race
	identity	hybridity	silence
	immigration 	gender class	sexuality		
	genre of memoir		travel and displacement
	generational gaps between immigrants and their children 

Texts discussed in class:
Maxine Hong Kingston,	Woman Warrior 
Shirley Geok-lin Lim, 	Asian American Literature: an Anthology
Philip Gotanda,		The Wash
Milton Muruyama 	All I Asking For is My Body  
Mine Okubo 		Citizen 13660

Literary Criticisms, Book Reviews & General Reference databases

These resources are available through the Articles & Indexes databases. Information on how to use these database from off campus is available at Off-campus Access.

Selected Printed Resources

Book Reviews
Book Review Index Main Lib Ref Z 1219.B66
Book Review Digest Main Lib Ref Z 1219.B65
Cumulative Book Index Main Lib Ref Z 1215.U6

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Asian American Literature EGSL Ref PS 153 A84.A82 1999
Asian American Novelists: a bio-bibliographical Critical Source Book EGSL Ref PS 153 A84.A825 2000
Asian Pacific American Heritage EGSL Ref PS 153 A84.A87 1999
Dictionary of Asian-American History EGSL Ref E 184 O6.D53 1986
Distinguished Asian Americans EGSL Ref E 184 O6.D57 1999
Notable Asian Americans EGSL E 184 O6.N67 1995
A Resource Guide to Asian American Literature EGSL Ref PS 153 A84.R47 2001

Search Process

Begin the search by choosing a database from the list above. When available use the advance search as this will display all the search options available for that database. You will need to think about the terms you will use, how to combine them, and more importantly, the time period. Think of synonyms for your topic. For example, gender, women, sexuality, female etc,

Sample Search Database: MLA International Bibliography 

		KEYWORD		Woman Warrior AND Kingston
Your results will usually contain the citation information for the articles. When the full-text is available online you can print, save, or email the information. However, when the full-text is not available online you will need to search the UCSB online catalog PEGASUS to determine if our library owns the item. You will need to search for the Title of the journal or book in the catalog to get the call no., location, and availability. If the item is not available in our library try to look for it in MELVYL, the union catalog of the U.C. libraries. If it is available at another U.C. library you can get it via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).
Ask for Help! Don't forget to ASK FOR HELP when you need it. You can find a reference librarian at the Main Reference Desk at scheduled desk hours on weekdays, weekends and even on holidays. For reference help and hours please call (805) 893.3133.
Gary Colmenar: colmenar@library.ucsb.edu