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CONTENTS |
Encyclopedias, handbooks, and biographical guides are useful starting points when you need some background on a topic, or to familiarize yourself with key issues, events, or people. Articles in sources like these help you get oriented and often provide a bibliography of important references. For example, use these resources to find basic information about the country you will be researching, and to find the names, dates and places of major explorations to choose for your project.
Historic, Cultural, Statistical and Factual Sources |
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Country Studies/Area Handbook Series (catalog link) (online version through Library of Congress) The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world and examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors. These studies were formerly published by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Although some are somewhat out of date, they can provide valuable background information and historical context on many lesser known areas of the world. Search by this series title and the country name you are researching as a title, or search your country name by title along with "country study." |
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EarthTrends: The Environmental Information Portal Produced by the World Resources Institute, EarthTrends is an environmental information portal for researching global topics, such as water resources, climate and atmosphere, population and health, energy resources, and agriculture and food. Allows users to gather information from the searchable database, display data tables, view country profiles, or select maps with global, regional, and country-level environmental information. Presents data and information from multiple statistical sources including U.N. agencies and other non-governmental organizations. |
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Early Americas Digital Archive Produced by the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland, the EADA is a collection of electronic texts originally written in or about the Americas from 1492 to approximately 1820. |
| eHRAF (Human Relations Area Files) Collection of Ethnography 1994-present online; pre-1994 on microfiche Full-text collection containing more than a quarter of a million pages of descriptive information on the cultures of the world, indexed at the paragraph level; documents can be browsed by culture as well as subject, author, etc.. eHRAF contains ethnographic and other documents describing cultural and social life (books, journal articles, and dissertations) that are compiled into culture files. eHRAF is unique because of its two classification systems: 1) Outline of World Cultures (OWC for short) classifies cultures and 2) Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM for short) provides a subject index for all aspects of cultural and social life. |
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The World Development Indicators (WDI) is the World Bank's annual compilation of data about development. WDI 2002 includes approximately 800 indicators in 87 tables, organized in six sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links. The tables cover 152 economies and 14 country groups-with basic indicators for a further 55 economies. WDI online provides information from 1960-2000, where data are available. The latest version of WDI in print is in Baker Berry Reference, at HC59 .W923 . |
| World Factbook Produced annually by the Central Intelligence Agency for the use of United States Government officials, the Factbook contains brief factual information about the geography, people, economy, industry, government, transportation and defense of the countries of the world. |
Atlases and Encyclopedias of Exploration and Discovery |
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Atlas of Exploration / editor, Shona Grimbly |
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Encyclopedia of Exploration First volume is arranged biographically, second volume is organized around regions, cultures, and historical trends. Includes bibliographies. |
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Explorers and Discoverers of the World, Daniel B. Baker, ed. Well-organized biographical profiles, each about 2 pages in length. Each profile ends with a section "Where to Learn More" that provides further reading recommendations and highlights the explorers' own narratives and writings. |
Search the Dartmouth library catalog to locate books, journals, and other items in the collections of all the Dartmouth libraries. Search by subject (using Library of Congress subject headings) or by keyword; you can also search for specific works by author, or by title.
Collections of Special Interest:
Works issued by the Hakluyt Society
Baker-Berry G161 .H2Founded in 1846 to publish rare accounts of travels to unknown or exotic lands, the Hakluyt Society created a distinguished series of new or first editions of early explorers’ writings. The collection is a rich source for descriptions of lands explored by Europeans from the 15th to the 19th centuries, including China, Japan, India, the Pacific Islands, Africa, America, Greenland, and Russia.
For best results, try to come up with multiple ways of describing your topic ranging from very specific to more general. If you're not sure of the exact Library of Congress Subject Heading, use a Keyword search to locate a few items that are relevant to your topic. Then use the subject headings associated with those items to lead you to more relevant materials.
Many bibliographic databases, including the library catalog and many article indexes, use assigned terms to describe the subject content of materials. These subject terms (subject headings) can help you focus your search with great precision.
Another Good Tip!: LC Subject Headings can have subdivisions that modify them. Many of these subdivisions remain the same across different subject areas, so you can predict and look for them.
Some of these subdivisions reflect types of information: bibliography, encyclopedias, history, personal narratives, correspondence, sources, statistics.
Others are geographic: South Africa, Ganges River, Cape Horn (Chile); or chronological: 20th century, Early works to 1800.
Keyword searches can be made to search for your terms in specific fields (subject, author, title) by using field tags ( s: or a: or t: ) . With a little creativity, you can use this technique with great success, as shown here
(example: colombia and s:early accounts )
Final Tip: Note that the results of a subject search are listed alphabetically, by default. To view the most recent items published on a subject, use the "Sort" button to view results in reverse chronological order (newest first).
[place name] -- Description and travel
Description and travel is used as a subdivision following a place name, e.g. Burma—description and travel. It can be used for modern as well as older texts.Discovery and exploration
Can be followed by a place name e.g. Discovery and exploration -- Africa
(you might also see the place name first, e.g. Africa—discovery and exploration)Discoveries in geography
(used with subdivisions indicating the nationality of the explorers, e.g. Discoveries in geography – Dutch; or with subdivisions indicating a period of time, e.g. Discoveries in geography – 19th century)America - Early accounts to 1600
A very useful subject heading, used for all of North, Central and South America. Search as a keyword combined with a country or place name of interest, e.g. kw=America early accounts and Brazil[place name] - Description and Travel - Early works to 1800
A useful subdivision describing early works e.g. India - Description and Travel - Early works to 1800History and Sources are subdivisions which denote primary source accounts from a particular historical period of a region (sometimes this historical period can be further specified). For example,
India History British Occupation 1765 1947 SourcesVoyages and travels.
Used for modern as well as older texts. Try sorting by date to view older material, or use the limit feature to add a geographic keyword.Explorers
Followed by subdivision indicating place. Subdivisions also tell you what kind of text you’re looking at – in general, primary source material will have subdivisions like "Sources" or more specifically "Correspondence," "Manuscripts" "Diaries." Subdivisions like "Fiction" or "Drama" or "In Literature" are clues that these are not primary source texts. There is also a subdivision for "Biography" which may or may not be useful as background.[name of individual explorer as subject heading] examples: Cortes, Hernan ; Cortes, Hernan – journeys -- Mexico
Human ecology -- [place name] example Human ecology -- India
Ecology -- [place name] example Ecology -- IndiaEnvironmental conditions - [place name] example Environmental conditions - India
Environmental degradation – [place name] example Environmental degradation -- India
Land degradation – [place name] example Land degradation -- India
Natural resources -- [place name] example Natural resources--Indiaand any of the following could be very relevant ...
[place or ethnic group name] -- Social conditions example Kenya -- social conditions
[place or ethnic group name] -- Economic conditions example Kenya -- economic conditions
[place or ethnic group name]-- Social life and customs example Kenya -- social life and customs
[place or ethnic group name] -- Population example Kenya -- population
Journal articles are often more current than books, and can address more narrow or specialized topics; scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles are edited and reviewed by experts before publication.
Articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers can be found using article indexes (searchable databases of article records). In many cases these indexes link through to full-text articles (look for the 
ArticleLinker icon); if not, use the Library's Catalog to locate the source of the article. Note that the Catalog does not contain records for individual articles.
Article not available at Dartmouth? Try DartDoc. (Also see the section, Getting Items Not Available at Dartmouth.)
Selected indexes relevant to geographic and interdisciplinary topics are listed here. See eResources for a complete listing of electronic indexes, databases, and other eResources licensed by Dartmouth. Still not sure where to start? Try Search360 to search multiple article databases with one search! You can also ask a librarian if you need help choosing an article index with a particular focus (e.g., literary, environmental, political).
Covers all aspects of physical and human geography and international area studies. Ideal for environmental issues and interdisciplinary topics worldwide. Indexes a wide range of journals, including Ambio, African Journal of Ecology, and the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. General and Multidisciplinary Article Indexes: These are great for exploring multiple aspects of a topic, or if you are unsure which subject-specific index to try. Academic Search Premier is another all-purpose, multidisciplinary database that you may be familiar with. Historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada) Contains the complete archives of core scholarly journals in several disciplines, digitized and fully searchable from the first issues, in many cases dating back to the 1800s. Search in individual journals or disciplines, or across collections such as African Studies, Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies, Slavic Studies, Geography and Anthropology. Web of Science indexes about 8000 journals in all subject areas.This index is unique in that it tells you who has cited a particular paper, which is useful as a way to find related papers, and to track the influence of a particular paper. You can also search by topic, and the index is very up-to-date. Especially useful for multidisciplinary topics. Coverage varies; journals in the social sciences are indexed back to 1956; science journals back to 1945. Wilson Web Databases: These can be searched separately or together. Humanities Abstracts Social Sciences Abstracts Humanities Index & Social Sciences Retrospective provides coverage of numerous journals in geography, history, and anthropology and area studies. Coverage includes the Annals of the Association of American Geographers; The Geographical Review; The Journal of Historical Geography. Covers 1907-1984. Readers Guide to Periodical Literature Book Review Digest Article Indexes in Specialized Areas: Use one of these indexes if you have a particular focus that you wish to explore. There are many more specialized indexes in the eResource folders. 1971-present. For 1941- 1971, see the print index in Baker/Berry Ref/Z/3001/B53 Anthropological Literature Indexes over 800 scholarly journals and monographic series in anthropology and archeology, including: Africa, Advances in Human Ecology, Environmental Archaeology: The Journal of Human Palaeoecology, Ethnography, Geographical Journal, and Journal of Asian and African Studies. A comprehensive bibliography of articles on the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. The database content is drawn from over 2,000 journals published worldwide in history, related humanities, and the social sciences . The coverage of America: History and Life also includes citations to book reviews from over 100 major journals of American history and culture and relevant dissertations from Dissertation Abstracts International. Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) Contains records describing books, book chapters, articles, and conference papers published in the field of Latin American studies. Coverage includes relevant books as well as over 800 social science and 550 humanities journals and volumes of conference proceedings. Most records include abstracts with evaluations.
GEOBASE
Indexes about 350 popular and scholarly journals in the humanities including anthropology, geography, history, philosophy, & social criticism. Covers such journals as African Affairs, The Humanist, Environmental Ethics. (Include the Humanities & Social Sciences Retro file for access to years from 1907 - 1984.)
Indexes about 350 journals in disciplines such as environmental studies, geography, history, public policy and economics. Covers a wide range of interdisciplinary fields covered in a broad array of social sciences journals, including Population and Development Review, The Economist, Population Bulletin, UN Chronicle. (include the Humanities & Social Sciences Retro file for access to years from 1907 - 1984.)
Indexes the New York Times, the NYT Book Review and the NYT Magazine, as well as popular magazines like Time, Newsweek, Atlantic Monthly, Discover, Environment, National Geographic, the Smithsonian, and Scientific American.
Provides descriptive summaries of books as well as excerpts of book reviews, with complete book review citations and all book reviews from other Wilson indexes. Books appear with all their reviews grouped together.
late 1800's-present
Dartmouth College has been a depository for U.S. federal documents for more than 100 years. Federal documents are often a source of important historical information for all areas of American life.
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
A digitized collection of primary material on nearly two hundred years of American history. The U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817-1980) consists of the bound volumes of all reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. This remarkable digitization project (in which Dartmouth is a major partner) offers access to this rich collection and provides facsimile images of every Serial Set publication, including every illustration, map, colored map, and color plate. Browse by subject or search.
The Dartmouth Writing Program provides an online resources page for students to help you with all aspects of composition.
The Student Center for Research, Writing & Information Technology (RWIT) trains student tutors to assist with paper topics, research assignments and multimedia projects.
Style guides provide accepted standards to follow when preparing research papers for publication. Sources is the Dartmouth College general guide to citing sources, and contains required reading about plagiarism and when, and how, to cite material you are using for a paper or presentation.
Reference management programs allow you to build a personal database of your references to articles, books, websites - any information source - and then easily create bibliographies and reference lists using any particular style, without having to retype or reformat. See this overview of reference management programs widely used at Dartmouth.
RefWorks
RefWorks is a web-based reference management program that allows users to create their own personal database of references by importing references from online article databases. RefWorks makes it easy to search, sort, and cite these references in writing papers and then to automatically format the paper and the bibliography. To get started with RefWorks, go to http://www.refworks.com and click on the "User Login" button on the menu bar. Then click on the "Sign up for an Individual Account" link and fill out the form. RefWorks in-context help, or the online tutorial, will guide you through the basics. See the overview for details on importing citations from various article databases into RefWorks.
BORROW DIRECT: Delivers books from the combined library catalogs of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale within 4 business days.
Please fill out the DartDoc Form for documents that are in Storage or that are not in the Dartmouth Library system (Interlibrary Loan requests). See the Document Delivery webpage for more details on these services.
You can also use the Request Selected Item feature of the Library Catalog to request books or articles from Storage.
Map of the libraries & Library Hours
Getting Started with Library Research
A quick review of the basicsAccessing Electronic Resources from Off-Campus (VPN software instructions)
Help
For assistance with any part of your research project please contact:
Jane Quigley, Reference Librarian, Kresge Physical Sciences Library, 6-3564
Ann Perbohner, Reference Librarian, Kresge Physical Sciences Library, 6-3845
Lucinda Hall, Baker Berry Reference, 6-0962 (Geography, Maps)
Amy Witzel, Baker-Berry Reference, 6-0790 (Anthropology and related studies)
Ask A Kresge-Cook Librarian | Ask a Rauner Librarian | Ask a Baker Berry Librarian
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Off-Campus Access