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Below is a very general outline of how to begin researching your topic and finding materials at the UCSB Libraries.
Check books -- especially subject encyclopedias and reference books --for concise, reliable background information.
| Schwarzenegger syndrome: politics and celebrity in the Age of Contempt | Main Lib E902.I48 2005 |
| Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Culture | Main Ref E169.12 E49 2001 |
| Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: Mexican American Labor and Leisure in a California Town, 1880 - 1960 | Main Lib F869.C79 A53 2006 |
| The Ecology of Marine Fishes: California and Adjacent Waters | SEL QL628.C2.E33 2006 |
| Golden State, Golden Youth: The California Image in Popular Culture, 1955 - 1966 | Main Lib F866.2.M23 2002 |
| The Encyclopedia of California, 1999 | Main Ref F859.E52 1999 |
| The encyclopedia of ethnic groups in Hollywood | Main Ref PN1995.9.M56 P37 2003 |
For off-campus access to online articles and licensed databases, use the Proxy Server.
Here's a chart describing the main differences between scholarly and popular journals.
Use an index to find articles in newspapers, scholarly journals, and magazines. The complete list of indexes and databases is here. Below are a few that might be particularly useful for this assignment.
Academic Search Complete 1980s - present
- Citations and some full text to both scholarly and popular articles.
- To limit to scholarly articles, click the Academic Journals link in the middle of the page.
- Type your keywords (e.g. zoot suit riot*) in the search box.
- Some of the articles will be available in full text directly from this database. You'll see an icon or pdf link.
- Not all articles will be online. Use the
 to track down the article, either online from another database, or in print format on the library shelf (assuming we subscribe to the journal). In some instances, the full text version of the article will be available through another database. This will be evident in the .
- If you can't find the full article online, note the call number of the journal and go to the library shelves.
- To email, print, save, or download, click the Add folder to the right of the citation. Then click the folder icon in the upper right.
Lexis Nexis Academic dates vary
- Full text of thousands of U.S. and foreign newpapers.
- Use the default Easy Search.
- Enter your keywords, e.g. "california wild fires".
- Check the left margin for ways of limiting your results.
- Email, print, and save icons are on the upper right.
Music Index Online 1976 - present
- Use Expert search page.
- No full-text, so use .
- Covers all styles and genres of music
Social Science Databases via CSA dates vary
- Searches a number of social science databases simultaneously.
- Type your keywords in the first row of text boxes. You can string together several synomyms: immigrants OR immigration OR migrant workers
- Type keywords for a new concept in the second row, e.g. california
- Check the list of "descriptors" in the right margin. This is a useful way to learn the subject terms associated with your topic: go ahead and click any of these to explore.
- Very little full-text, so use .
- Mark your records first in order to save, email, or download.
America: History and Life
Art Full Text
Business Source Complete
California Department of Finance: Demographic, Economic, and Financial Research
Chicano Database
Counting California Access to economic and social science data from federal, state, and local agencies.
CQ Electronic Library Includes the CQ Researcher (analysis of issues from all sides) and CQ Weekly (non-partisan Congressinal commentary).
Newspapers Lots of links here, including one to LexisNexis outlined above. Access World News (Newsbank) has full text access to about 300 newspapers, including about 100 from California.
Online Archive of California Access to primary source materials including manuscripts, photographs, and works of art held in California libraries and museums.
Pegasus is the library catalog. Use it to find books and other materials at the UCSB Libraries. The * symbol will pick up alternate endings to a word: politic* will find library records that contain the words politics, political, politicians, and so forth.
Examples of keywords:
- zoot suit riots
- vineyards and california
- california politic* and religion
- endangered wildlife and california
The Internet can be a great source for information, but be careful: not every website is accurate, credible, or reliable. Can you tell if the website is authoritative and accurate? How do you know? Can you figure out who wrote it, whether it's been updated recently, or whether that even matters? Pay attention to domain names -- a website name ending in .edu or .gov may well be more authoritative than a .com or .org, but not necessarily (case in point: this page is a .edu, but everything I've written may be pure nonsense). Use a website evaluation checklist, and remember to credit anything you use from a website just as you would from a book or article.
This one's all yours!
Here's a citation machine to help you format your citations and bibliography in standard MLA or APA style.
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