HOW TO SEARCH
Remember to use alternate terminology and separate the terms with OR. For example, Muslim or moslem or islam*. The * "truncates" the word so Islam* gets you islam, islamic.... Other terms from Arabic will have variant transliterations in English. For example, Muhammad or Mohamed or Mohammed or Mohammad and so on! To be comprehensive, search all of these and connect them with or.

If you are accessing library resources from off-campus, log into the Proxy Server.

REFERENCE RESOURCES

Encyclopedias will give you a broad organized overview of your topic. The articles usually will include a bibliography in which you will find suggestions for further reading. Specialized encyclopedias, along with specialized dictionaries, will help you to define terms and give additional terms which may be useful in your search. The following online encyclopedias and dictionary are the most important ones for researching your topics

Encyclopedia of Islam
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures

Pointers for searching the above:

• Only Encyclopedia of the Qur'an has cross-references which are hyperlinks
• You can search these as a group or individually
• Use Mozilla Firefox in order to get proper display of diacritics (accent marks)
• You can do a basic keyword search or advanced searches with truncations (use *)
• Cross-references so you can find info without using the "proper" term

Additional articles can be found in Encyclopedia of Islam, 1st ed. 1913-1938. This 9 volume set is in Main Reference DS35.53 .E53 1987. Not all articles from the print are in the online version.

Oxford Dictionary of Islam

• For quick look-ups of terms, people, places, etc
• Use keywords
• Use * for truncation

LOCATING MATERIALS

To find books in the UCSB library, use Pegasus.

Do KEYWORD searches

• examples: martyr*; ibn rushd or averroes
• Click WORDS AS PHRASE for an exact phrase. Example: jihad and just war
• Check out the SUBJECT HEADINGS on the records for the books you find to see if there are other terms and ways to search for books on your topic.

To find books from other UC campuses, use MELVYL

• Search the way you search Pegasus
• Select title and click Request to have it sent to UCSB
• Takes 2-5 days to get the books

To find journal articles you will need to use an article index. Finding articles is a two-step process. First, you need to find the citation to an appropriate article in an index and then you need to find the actual article by using UC e-Links, Pegasus, or the Electronic Journals List. Indexes to articles are found on the Library's RESEARCH page Online Resources. If you are off-campus, click here to login to the databases and then select the one you want from the alphabetical list. The searching methods will vary from index to index, but you will almost always find "help" or "tips" screens. Listed below are two indexes of particular importance for this class

Index Islamicus

• Covers widest amount of journals and books concerning the Middle East
• Revised quarterly, but the indexing is often a few years behind
• Includes materials in many languages
• Use * to truncate
• Click on Peer-reviewed tab to get academic journals
• Use UCeLinks to find the items

Academic Search Complete

• Indexes the major journals from most academic disciplines
• Includes citations, abstracts and some fulltext
• Use * to truncate
• Includes popular as well as scholarly so use tabs to limit results
• Use UCeLinks to find the items

For further resources you can check out

For further assistance, please contact the librarian for Middle Eastern Studies, Meryle Gaston.