Finding Books and other materials
Use the following databases to locate materials in UCSD and other libraries:
Web Portals/Internet Search Engines
Use the following portal to identify high-quality information on the Internet about Latin America:
- LANIC: Latin American Network Information Center
directory by country and subject of high quality web-based information identified by academics at the University of Texas Center for Latin American Studies.
THESES AND DISSERTATIONS
- Dissertations and Theses
Dissertations/master's theses from 1,000+ graduate schools & universities in N. America/the world from 1861 to the present . Abstracts for dissertations 1980-present; master's theses 1988-present. Full-text of most UC dissertations available at no charge.
The database will allow you to preview the first few pages of the Dissertation. Dissertations (including foreign dissertations) can often be borrowed from other libraries via Interlibrary Loan. In some cases, the Libraries will purchase dissertations that support current research interests at UCSD.
Beginning your research
Information about Latin America can be found in a variety of formats and disciplines. Much of what you find will be in Spanish or Portuguese. This guide is designed to direct you to major sources of information in a variety of areas:
Begin searching for books using Melvyl - in the box to your left. It is best to begin with UC Libraries then expand out to Libraries Worldwide.
To locate academic journal articles, use the various databases listed in the box below. News sources are listed on another tab at the top.
Theses and Disseratations (see below) are often important sources of original information and their bibliographies can lead you to other sources.
Primary sources are of particular importance in doing historical research or identifying first-hand perspectives on topics. Some of the information may be in archives that have been digitized. In some cases, the documents themselves may not yet be digitized, but finding aids to those collections help you identify if they can be helpful in your research.
Government information from Latin America often includes presidential messages, statements of public policy, and goverment produced statistics about country and its activities. U.S. government information (particularly hearings and State Department documents) contain a wealth of information about U.S. relations with Latin America.
Much of the social science literature related to Latin America is published in grey literature (information produced by non-governmental organizations, research institutes, and other non-commercial publishing houses).
Quantitative data (statistics, data sets/ public opinion surveys, etc.) are important sources to use to support ideas you put forth. These may require a basic knowledge of statistical program such as STATA.
The World Wide Web is an important source of information, but it is important to use only web sites that are authoritative and reliable.
FOR A BASIC OVERVIEW OF SOME TOPICS, INCLUDING JOURNAL ARTICLES AND SOME PRIMARY SOURCE MATERIAL SEE:
- World Scholar: Latin America and the Caribbean includes the full text of contemporary and historical documents, selected articles from newspapers and journals, maps, and statistics focusing on humanities and social sciences topics.
FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES
- Academic Search Complete Multidisciplinary database that indexes and abstracts articles in more than 10,900 journals and other publications in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese; full-text is available for over 5300 journals
- CLASE and PERIODICA indexes articles published in over 1200 Latin American journals in the social sciences and humanities. It's companion index PERIODICA covers over 1400 Latin American journals in science and technology. The merged database has over 400,00 citations dating back to 1975.
- Handbook of Latin American Studies online bibliography on Latin America consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars and edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress. It includes both books and journal articles and alternates annually between the social sciences and the humanities.
- HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index Indexes over 500 key social science and humanities journals published throughout the world about and from Latin America. Full text is included for a number of the journals.
- JSTOR full text of more than 500 scholarly journals in social sciences, humanities, and sciences, to their earliest issues. Many titles extend as far back as late 19th or early 20th centuries; most recent 3-5 years not included. Includes over 35 journals related to Latin America. In most cases, the full text of the journals is available up to the most recent 3 years.
- MLA International Bibliography is the primary database of citations to journal articles, monographs, book chapters, and dissertations in Latin American literature and folklore. Important source for linguistics and non-technical aspects of theater & film. Ca. 1890-present
- PAIS International Indexes print and electronic articles, books, and government publications on issues of public policy, including politics, government, economy, marine policy, law. 1915 to present
- Social Sciences Citation Index (Web of Knowledge) Provides author, keyword, and cited reference searching to more than 1700 leading social sciences journals. In many cases with searchable abstracts plus links to e-journals. 1956-present
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts Research within the political science discipline and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy. 1975 to present
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