- Food habits - Middle East
- Food habits - Egypt
- Cookery, Arab
- Cookery, Armenian
- Cookery, Iranian
- Cookery, Israeli
- Cookery, Mediterranean
- Cookery, Sephardic
- Cookery, Turkish
- Africa, North - Social life and customs
- Arab countries - Social life and customs
- Lebanon - Social life and customs
- Middle East - Social life and customs
- Jews - Social life and customs
- Muslims - Social life and customs
- Jews - Dietary laws
- Muslims - Dietary laws
- Islam - Customs and practices
- Judaism - Customs and practices
- Zoroastrianism - Customs and practices
- for practices of Christians, you will need to search under headings which relate Christianity and Christians to the Middle East e.g.
- Christians - Middle East [or other region or country] e.g.
- Christians - Syria - Social life and customs
- Christian sects - Middle East [or other region or country]
- Copts
- Coptic Church
- Nestorians
- Nestorian Church
- Maronites
- Christians - Middle East [or other region or country] e.g.
- Personal narratives such as memoirs and autobiographies are often good sources for social and cultural practices. They are not always easy to find, however. You could search under the names of countries, cities, regions, or religious and ethnic groups and look for the subheading "-Personal narratives" or "Biography"; or, under the names of countries and regions with the subheading "-Description and travel"; or, under the names of cities and towns with the subheading "-Description". e.g.
- Iran - History - Revolution, 1979 - Personal narratives (would lead you to a book such as Zohreh Sullivan's EXILED MEMORIES)
- Marrakech (Morocco) - Description (would lead you to a book such as Elizabeth Warnock Fernea's A STREET IN MARRAKECH)
- Autobiographies and memoirs usually can be recognized by the fact that the author and the subject are the same name. E.g.
Melvyl is the combined catalog of all ten of the University of California libraries, including UCSB. Melvyl has the same search functions as Pegasus, but the searches work a bit differently. You can limit your search to a specific campus, and, as with Pegasus, you can also limit by year, language, etc. You can request items by using the "Request" button on your search result page. Requested items are usually received within three to five days. You will use the exact same subject headings and subheadings in Melvyl as you use in Pegasus.Why not use Melvyl instead of Pegasus?
- For subject searches, Pegasus is much easier to browse than Melvyl. In Melvyl, your search will bring only exact matches; in Pegasus you will be able to browse the subjects which come before and after what you requested. For example, in Melvyl the subject search "Cookery, Lebanese" will bring you a list of items which match only that subject heading. In Pegasus, the same search takes you to a subject heading list, with the number of hits for each heading, which you can then browse for other appropriate headings.
- Items which the UCSB library has received and not yet cataloged, will not appear in Melvyl. These "In Process" materials not only appear in Pegasus, but you may also request the item. Clicking the request button on the holdings screen triggers an order to catalog the item.
- Records for online journals for which UCSB library has subscriptions have hyperlinks as part of the record. This allows you to go directly online to the journal. In Melvyl, the only hyperlinks which will work are for journals for which the CDL (California Digital Library) has subscriptions.
FINDING ARTICLES
To find articles in journals, books, newspapers, documents, etc., you will need to use an article index. Any one or more of the following indexes may be useful in your search. Some are of a more general nature in that they cover a broad sweep of subjects and others are subject sprecific. There is some overlap amongst the sources and some may not be appropriate for your topic, so it is highly unlikely you would ever have to search all of them. While most are available online, there are extremely important offline sources, which should not be neglected. The online resources may be accessed from the library's home page: from the "Research" link on the left, choose "Article Indexes & Databases". To access from off-campus, you must configure your browser for Web connection via the library's Proxy server
Once you have found your article citations, you then need to find the article itself. In some of the indexes there may be a link to the UCSB subscription, but not all of them. Search in Pegasus for the title of the journal. If the journal is available online, there will be a link on the record. If the journal is not online, or only partially online, you will need to get the call number and find the actual journal in the library's stacks.
Keyword searching will be your most likely method of approach. The searching methods vary from index to index, but you will almost always find "help" or "tips" screens. The library has online and printed guides to many of these indexes, as well. In many of the general indexes, you can limit your searches to "refereed" journals. Many of the indexes will show yellow and blue icons for the titles to which UCSB subscribes.
- ABI Inform (economics, business)
- Anthropology Plus
- Article First (all subjects)
- ATLA Religion
- Bibliography of Asian Studies (mostly East, South, and Southeast Asia, but some Middle East)
- Ethnic News Watch
- Expanded Academic ASAP (all subjects)
- FRANCIS (all subjects)
- Historical Abstracts
- Ingenta (all subjects)
- Lexis Nexis Academic (all subjects)
- MLA International Bibliography (language, literature, history, and folklore)
- OCLC ECO Journal Search (all subjects)
- Periodicals Content Index (PCI) (all subjects)
- RAMBI/Index of Articles on Jewish Studies and ... Erez Israel
- Social Science Citation Index
- Sociological Abstracts
Offline Resources
- Index Islamicus on cdrom (check out from First Floor Information Desk; an instruction booklet is available). The cdrom includes indexing only through 1999; therefore, to complete your search you will need to use the paper "quarterlies" which are in the Reference Department on the first floor - call no. REF Z7835.M6 I535
- Index to Jewish Periodicals - call no. REF Z6367.I5
- Middle East Abstracts and Index - call no. REF DS41.M44
SPECIAL RESOURCES
Use for detailed information, or to give yourself ideas for topics, or to find other resources.
Online Resources
- Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) Collection of Ethnography Indexes and supplies text for books, articles, and disserations on cultural studies. eHRAF includes only documents indexed since HRAF became an electronic resource in 1994. Unfortunately, it may still be necessary to use the microfiche (Microfiche Area H62.H76)if you do not find your culture in eHRAF
- Digital Dissertations Indexes disserations from over 1000 predominantly North American universities. Includes dissertations submitted from 1861 to as recently as last semester. All citations from 1980 have an abstract. Masters theses with short abstracts are included from 1988
- Country Studies Current information on individual countries issued by the Library of Congress Reference Division. Almost all Middle Eastern countries are included
- al-Misbah/MENALIB Index, with links, to Middle East related internet resources
- MENIC News & Media A comprehensive news portal for Middle Eastern countries
- Governments of the Middle East A guide, with links, to Middle Eastern government websites
- Middle East Studies Subject Page
- The RLG Union Catalog (RLIN) and World Cat may be useful if you are looking for materials which do not appear in Melvyl. These union catalogs do have some overlap and both contain millions of records from libraries around the country, including the Library of Congress. Some libraries in the UK and other parts of the world are also included. To access them, go the the library's home page and choose "Research" from the lefthand column. Then choose the Article Indexes & Databases link and scroll down the alphabetic list of databases.
Offline Resources
- Encyclopaedia of Islam on cdrom (check out from the first floor Information Desk. An instruction booklet is available) There is also a paper copy REF DS37.E623 1960
- Encyclopedia Judaica [on cdrom] DS102.8.E496 1997 (also available in paper REF DS102.8.E59 and REF DS102.8.E498), it consists of 16 base volumes plus 8 yearbooks, and 2 decennials; the cdrom includees all of these in one place, plus updates and additional material)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica REF DS253.E53 1982
- The Coptic Encyclopedia REF BX130.5.C66 1991
- Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures REF HQ1170.E53 2003
- The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia REF DS102.8.S545 2003
- Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World REF BP40.E525 2004
- The Muslim Almanac: a Reference Work on the History, Faith, Cultures, and Peoples of the Middle East REF BP40.M83 1996
- Peoples of the World: the Middle East and North Africa: the Cultures, Geographical Setting, and Historical Background of 30 Peoples of the Middle East and North Africa REFDS57.M91 1992
- The Middle East and North Africa [annual]REF DS49.M5 latest vol.
- Countries and Their Cultures REF GN307.C68 2001
- Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life REF GN333.W67 1998
- Encyclopedia of Food and Culture REF GT2850.E53 2003
Web Pages
Be careful and critical when searching for web pages to use for your projects. It goes without saying, but anyone can put up a website. Use our How Do I Know What's Good on the Web? guide to help you evaluate what you find. You will find further suggestions for sites at UCSB library'sInternet Resources for Religious Studies and Internet Resources for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies
For further assistance, please contact the librarian for Middle Eastern Studies, Meryle Gaston.