UCR      Libraries

African Civilization Resources

Printed Reference Sources

There are many specialized encyclopedias, indexes, and other reference sources with information about African history. These sources cannot be checked out. They are located in the Reference area on the 1st floor of the Rivera Library.

African Recorder (1989- )	Ref DT1 .A45
Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History, Languages, Cultures, and Environments	Ref DT2 .E53 1997
Encyclopedia of African History and Culture	Ref DT3 .P27 2001
African Studies Companion: A Resource Guide & Directory	Ref DT19.8 .Z45 1997
Chronology of World Slavery	Ref HT861 .R63 1999
Historical Guide to World Slavery	Ref HT861 .H59 1998
Macmillan Encyclopedia of World Slavery	Ref HT861 .M24 1998
Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African-American Experience	Ref DT14 .A37435
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara	Ref DT351 .E53 1997
Dictionary of African Biography	Ref DT18 .D55
Africa Contemporary Record	DT1.A324 (most recent in reference, others in stacks)
International African Bibliography (1972-      )	Ref Z3501 .A116
Reference Guide to Africa	Ref Z3501 .K15 1999
Current Bibliography on African Affairs (1968-1993)	Ref Z3503 .C8
Africa South of the Sahara: Index to Periodical Literature 1900-1970	Ref Z3503 .U45
Guide to African American and African Primary Sources at Harvard University	Ref Z3509 .B87 2000
The Muslim Almanac	Ref BP40 .M83 1996
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World	Ref DS35.53 O95 1995

Search by keyword for materials on a particular topic.
To retrieve variations of a word, use *   
Example:  slave*  will retrieve slaves, slavery, and slaveholding 
Narrow your search by using subject headingsand/OR by limiting by year, language, books only.   

Remember, a "subject" search must use official "subject headings".  Here are some examples:

Chaka, Zulu Chief	Christianity--South Africa--20th Century
Congo (Brazzaville)--Politics and Government	Deforestation--government policy--Africa
Deforestation--Zimbabwe	Islam and State--Fulah Empire--History
Islam and State--Fulani Empire--History	Islam--Africa, west
Islam--Africa--History	Lumumba, Patrice
Peanut industry--Africa	Slavery in the Sudan
Slavery--Sudan--history--sources	Usuman dan Fodio
Women--Africa--Social Conditions	Zulu (African people)--Kings and Rulers

Use the California Digital Library's MELVYL Catalog to locate books at other UC campus libraries

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Start with:  Academic Search Complete -- a great place to begin!
Indexes popular magazine and scholarly journal articles, news magazines, and newspapers. Includes some full-text.

Then try:  Historical Abstracts  and  Arts & Humanities Citation Index - indexes scholarly journals from 1975 - present.     

Search for information in one or more of the specialized databases, depending upon your topic:  

Political Science focus, check:  PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
Relating to women, check our Databases by Subject Page: Ethnic & Women/Gender Studies

SEARCH TIPS and INTERNET SOURCES:

• Be flexible in your terminology; think of synonyms and related terms to describe your topic.
• Check the bibliographies of sources you have to find more sources.
• Limit to English language.
• Use a variety of sources.
• Be as specific as possible.
  

To find relevant Websites:

Check out INFOMINE- Social Sciences & Humanities

Put in the relevant keyword terms ands ee what happens! . . .  or  . . .     
    
Begin your Web surfing from some good "mega-sites" such as:

the University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center:
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/About_African/ww_hist.html

the African Studies Association:  "Africa South of the Sahara": 
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssry/africa/history.html

and for primary sources:
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/history/hisprimary.html 

the History Department at Tennessee Technological University: 
"African History and Studies":  http://www2.tntech.edu/history/african.html

The HistoryNet and About.com:  "African History":
http://africanhistory.about.com/cs/primarysources/ 

. . .   or   . . . 

do a SPECIFIC search in an Internet search engine (Google, HotBot, Northern Light, etc.)

For more research help, including guides for citing sources, check out the Research Help page.  One final note, Reference Librarians  are here to help you.   PLEASE ask us for assistance if you get stuck or confused at any point in the research process!