Sources for H-503: Asian Americans and Education

• Encyclopedias and Handbooks 
• Finding Books
• Finding Articles
• Finding Statistics
• Finding Full Text of a Specific Article
• Accessing Books and Articles not Available at Harvard
• Research Consultations
• Writing Consultations
• Ask Us

Encyclopedias and Handbooks

Subject encyclopedias and handbooks provide a solid overview and identify key scholars and works in a given field. Examples include the Handbook of Asian American psychology (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2007), Asian American children: a historical handbook and guide (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2004), or the Handbook of adolescent psychology (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2004). Use HOLLIS Classic to find appropriate titles, or Ask Us for recommendations.

Finding Books

Use HOLLIS Classic to find books, journals, manuscripts, government documents, visual materials, data files, and more owned by the Harvard University Libraries. Note that while HOLLIS includes journal titles, it does not index the articles within them. Information on Finding Articles.

To research a topic in HOLLIS, use the "Expanded Search" link and enter relevant keywords in the search boxes. Be sure to enclose phrases (e.g. "chinese americans") in quotation marks or click the "two-word phrase" radio button. Once you find a relevant book, click on its subject headings (located in the field labeled "Subject") to get a list of other works on this topic. Note that sometimes you may need to search a broader subject term (e.g. "asian americans") along with a more specialized subject term (e.g. "vietnamese americans") for comprehensive results.

Specialized topics may benefit from a look beyond Harvard's collections. WorldCat contains over 47 million records for books, journals, dissertations, and more owned by over 40,000 libraries (including Harvard). Information on Accessing Books and Articles not Available at Harvard.

Finding Articles

Use the following indexes to find scholarly journal articles and more by topic or author:

• Academic Search Premier -- Multidisciplinary; covers about 4,700 journals and magazines
• America: History and Life -- Covers over 2,000 journals on the history of the United States and Canada
• Education Abstracts -- Covers around 525 English-language education journals and yearbooks from 1983 --
• ERIC -- Covers over 800 education-related journals, as well as conference papers, research reports, state, federal, and local education documents, and selected books
• Historical Abstracts -- Indexes about 2,000 journals providing historical coverage of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada)
• JSTOR -- Covers more than 500 core scholarly journals from their first issues, but generally excludes the most recent five years
• PsycINFO -- Covers over 1,800 psychology journals and dissertations in more than 24 languages; also includes book chapters and books in the English language
• Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Science) -- Covers more than 1,725 journals across 50 social sciences disciplines. Use the "Cited Reference Search" option to find articles that cite a previously published work.
• Sociological Abstracts -- Covers more than 2,000 sociology-related journals; also covers selected books, dissertations, conference papers, and book reviews

Finding Statistics

• Barnes, J. S., & Bennett, C. E. (2002). The Asian population, 2000. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau.
  

• Digest of education statistics. (1975-). Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Education Division, National Center for Education Statistics.
  Available online: 1990-2008
  Check HOLLIS Classic for locations of print copies, including earlier editions.

• Garoogian, D. (2005). The Asian databook: detailed statistics and rankings on the Asian and Pacific Islander population, including 23 ethnic backgrounds from Bangladeshi to Vietnamese, for 1,883 U.S. counties and cities. Millerton, NY: Grey House Publishing.
  Latest edition available in print at the Kennedy School of Government Library (Ref E184.A75 A78 2005) and at Widener (Harvard Depository E184.A75 A78 2005)

• Reeves, T. J., & Bennett, C. E. (2004, December). We the people: Asians in the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau.
  

• Statistical abstract of the United States. (1879-). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
  Available online: 1878-2009
  Latest edition available in print at Gutman Library (Ref HA202 .A37); check HOLLIS Classic for locations of earlier editions.

Finding Full Text of a Specific Article

Use Citation Linker to locate online or print access for a specific article.

Accessing Books and Articles not Available at Harvard

Request books and photocopies of articles not owned by Harvard via interlibrary loan.

Research Consultations

Make a one-hour appointment with a librarian to:

• develop a research strategy
• identify and learn about relevant sources
• work on any research-related question, problem, or skill

To arrange a consultation, contact the Reference Desk (617-495-3421/617-495-3422) or a Research and Instruction Services staff member.

Writing Consultations

Make an appointment with a writing coach to:
• define a research question
• organize the content of your paper
• review and revise drafts
• cite sources appropriately

Sign up for a writing consultation.

For additional information or assistance, contact Gutman Library Research and Instruction Services (617-495-3421/3422 or reference@gse.harvard.edu) or stop by the Gutman Reference Desk.

Guide last updated: November 3, 2009