Contact your Research Librarian
Getting Started with Research for SPAN301/302!
- Need a review of Hekman Library basics? Check out this "Get Connected" guide or browse our How-to playlist on Youtube.
- If you're off-campus, remember to start at the library homepage when connecting to databases and ebooks, so you'll be recognized as a Calvin user (when you're prompted to login, enter your Calvin username and passphrase).
- Struggling with citations? For more help, see the library's longer Citation 101 guide or try using Purdue's OWL (Online Writing Lab)
Tips for Searching
Many of these search terms or Subject headings may prove helpful when researching your paper.
Subject headings are often a more accurate and comprehensive way of searching for a topic than keyword searching. Subject headings can be found on the left-hand column of search results in the catalog, or at the end of a book's catalog entry.
Hispanic Americans > Social conditions.
Hispanic Americans > Ethnic identity
Hispanic Americans > Politics and government.
Hispanic Americans > Attitudes.
Hispanic Americans > History.
Church work with Hispanic Americans.
Hispanic Americans > Religion.
Hispanic American theology.
Hispanic American Pentecostals.
Minorities > United States > Economic conditions.
Minorities > United States > Social conditions.
United States > Ethnic relations.
Ethnicity > Political aspects > United States.
Race > Political aspects > United States
Recommended Resources for Statistics
One quick way to find statistics on the web is pretty simple: search for your topic and "statistics." (Of course, be sure that the sources you find this way are reliable and check for bias.) You can also go to specific resources that provide statistics in certain areas.
Some examples and suggestions:
- USA.gov Data and StatisticsFind data about the U.S., such as maps and population, demographic, and economic data.
- UN DataSearchable statistics from the United Nations on many topics
- Local Demographic DataGuide created by Hekman librarian, Katherine Swart, on finding Grand Rapids and Michigan demographic data
- Pew Research CenterStudies and surveys on a number of social and political topics, including the environment, global attitudes/foreign affairs, immigration, internet and technology, legal, news media, politics and elections, and religion
- MSU Data and Statistics GuideCompiled by a Michigan State University librarian, this guide points to statistical resources for different topic areas (e.g., education or the arts). Note that some sources recommended in the guide are only available to the MSU community; others are free on the web.
Special Resource: Country Information
- BBC Country ProfilesFrom the BBC, "full profiles... to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions." Also, some audio and video from the BBC archives
- CIA World FactbookProvides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
Recommended Research Databases
Does your professor require you to find a certain number of articles or pages in Spanish? Here's a tip: Most database have a way to limit by language. Look on the left or right side of the screen to find the limiting features for the database.
- Academic Search Complete (EBSCO)
Great database to start your research. An interdisciplinary database covering a wide variety of subjects, primarily from academic and scholarly journals. - Communication & Mass Media CompleteGreat database for research in communication and rhetoric, also covers public relations, advertising, linguistics, language acquisition.
- Education Source (EBSCO)Doing research on an education topic such as teaching Hispanic students or how to teach Spanish? This is the database to look at.
- Historical Abstracts (EBSCO)Covers the wide range of world history (excluding the United States and Canada) from the 15th century to the present
- Sociology Database (ProQuest)
Use to search the research literature on why groups of people behave the way they do. Covers social work topics as well as culture and behavior. - Directory of Open Access Journals
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities.
- JSTOR
Well-known database covering many topics, mainly in the arts and humanities - only includes full-text articles from peer-reviewed journals - Project Muse
Full text peer-reviewed journal articles as well as ebooks. Many useful resources for topics related to Hispanic concerns.