Immigrants in US Society
Library Resources for Sociology 396 DS

::Ask-A-Librarian | Hours and Locations | Reserves| Finding Articles | Databases | Finding Books | Websites | Census Data and Statistics | Citing Sources | More Help::

Welcome! This site has been created to assist you in finding and using library resources for your research on immigration.  Our library, one of the largest university libraries in the U.S., can be a bit overwhelming at first, but it is truly a treasure trove for scholars. All of the UIUC Library's resources are available to you as you do your research, so explore, have fun, and don't hesitate to ask questions!

ASK-A-LIBRARIAN FOR HELP WITH YOUR RESEARCH

FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND

We have over 40 departmental libraries on our campus.  The libraries you will likely find to be the most useful for this class are the Education and Social Science Library, the History Library, the Main Stacks, and the Undergraduate Library.  The first three are located in the Main Library building.  You might also hear it referred to as the "Graduate Library," but don't let that stop you from coming in here and taking advantage of the resources we can provide. It's your library, too!

LIBRARY HOURS

Hours and contact information for all UIUC Libraries.

RESERVES

The reserve readings for this (and other) classes are available online via Course Reserves.

FINDING ARTICLES

Journal articles are one of the primary means of communicating research and ideas in academia. They can be an important component of your research paper and give you some insight into ongoing debates and conversations about your topic. 

Finding articles is a two-step process:

• First, find the citation to the articles you want. You can use readings lists from class, consult a bibliography or the works cited in a relevant book or article, or you can search for the topic you are interested in by using one of the article databases listed below. If you get stuck, ask your professor or Ask-A-Librarian for help getting started.
• Next, find the actual text of the articles you want. Some of our journals are online, but most still live on the shelves. If the article is not available electronically, you will need to use the Online Library Catalog to look up the source of the citation you have retrieved from the article database.

WHICH DATABASES WILL WORK BEST FOR THIS CLASS?

• America History and Life and Historical Abstracts - indexes journal articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises almost 400,000 bibliographic entries.
• eHRAF World Cultures - Full-text of key ethnographic sources on various cultural groups, including US immigrants such as "Italian Americans" and "Serbian Americans."
• Ethnic NewsWatch - Provides full text access for 200 newspapers and journals of the ethnic, minority, and native press.
• Sociological Abstracts - The preeminent database for citations to scholarly journals in sociology. Indexes and abstracts over 2,600 journals and other serial publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations. Covers 1963-present, updated monthly.
• Finding Articles - Links to other databases to search and other resources to help locate articles of interest.

Newspapers:

• Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe - Use "Quick News Search" to search all news sources, including NPR radio, newswires, and dailies from across the country. Use "Guide News Search" to focus on a specific region or type of news outlet.
• Chicago Tribune - Provides full text access for the backfiles of the Chicago Tribune, 1847-1985.
• New York Times - Provides full text access for the backfiles of the New York Times, 1851-2001.

FINDING BOOKS

• Online Library Catalog - Look here to find books, magazines or journals containing articles that you need, DVDs, and many other resources.  In addition to the 10 million volumes we have on this campus, you can connect to 71 other libraries in Illinois and request books be sent to you.
  
  When you find something you want in the catalog, write down the following:

  Location - in which library the item is kept (or libraries, if we have multiple copies)
  Call Number - this number is essential for finding the item on the shelf
  Status - is it available for you to check out?

  Hint: Catalogs are used for two purposes: (1) If you know exactly what you are looking for - an exact title or author - you can use the catalog to locate your material (this works for book titles and journal titles); (2) You can also use catalogs to discover material that might be helpful to you by doing subject and keyword searching.
• WorldCat and Interlibrary Loan - The places to verify citations for books and request books and articles you cannot find elsewhere.

LIBRARY CATALOG HINTS FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT:

• Search Online Catalog using one of the following SUBJECT HEADINGS (use the "Advanced Search" tab):


• Immigrants
• Ethnic Identity
• ________ Americans (e.g., Asian Americans or Hmong Americans)
Add other keywords to focus the search, e.g. "United States" or "Illinois" or "biography" or "social conditions"

• Browse the Education and Social Science, History, Main Stacks, or Undergraduate Library in the following call number ranges:
  
  • 304.873 Social processes: immigration
  • 305.8 Social groups: racial, ethnic and national
  • 306.08 Culture and Institutions: racial, ethnic and national
  • 973.04 American History: immigration
  Note: You can browse these call numbers in the Online Catalog by choosing "Call Number" in the "Quick Search" menu.

WHERE ELSE CAN YOU GO FOR INFORMATION?

Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-profit research organization "devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States." A rich source of information on immigration, including statistics and papers analylzing specific issues and trends, but BE AWARE OF THEIR ANTI-IMMIGRATION BIAS.

The Migration Policy Institute "is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide." The site provides access to in-depth reports on timely isuse, as well as facts, stats, amps and other resources on migration worldwide. The section on US Immigration, Borders and Security focuses on migration to the U.S.

The Smithsonian Institution's website on American Social and Cultural History provides a variety of primary source information. See especially the section on "Ethnic Communities."

Library of Congress's American Memory provides online access to a rich collection of primary source material relating to U.S. history and culture. Contains over 7 million digital items, including photographs, newspapers, sound recordings, field notes, manuscripts, cartoons, letters, legal documents, and more. Try searching the "Social Sciences" collection.

The quality of information available on the Web varies tremendously. Evaluating Internet Sites 101 gives some valuable pointers on evaluating information on the Internet. Actually, these tips can be applied to print as well as online sources.

CENSUS DATA AND STATISTICS

FedStats

Yearbook of Immigration Statistics

Statistical Abstract: The National Data Book

US Census Bureau: Migration Data and Reports

CITING SOURCES IN YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY

Style and Writing Guides - How to format citations, write papers, and do research in the social sciences.

Refworks - A great tool for writing papers, Refworks helps you export bibliographic records from databases, change the citation styles as needed and import the citation directly into a Word document so you can create bibliographies on the fly. For help using this utility, see Refworks Help.

MORE TIPS ON USING THE LIBRARY

Library Research Guide for Sociology - A guide to sociology-related sources in the Education and Social Science Library.

How Do I...? - A series of brief tutorials about library services.