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SOCI 103 - Asian Americans in Contemporary Society: Getting Started

Reference works

Use dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks to learn quickly about the state of research on your topic. A good encyclopedia article should describe major themes, current research fronts, and controversial areas; it should also provide a brief bibliography of classic, important, or definitive works on your topic. Handbooks generally offer chapters on specific aspects of a topic: together, the handbook's chapters should provide a broad overview of the state of research; individually, chapters may be narrowly focused.

Bibliographies and Guides to the Literature

Bibliographies are lists of works organized around a topic, while guides to the literature are systematic introductions to the literature of a field.

Literature reviews are a handy way to get quickly into the scholarly literature. A typical literature-review article will provide a narrative that identifies and describes dozens of journal articles and books.

Style guides and manuals

Librarian & Coordinator of Social Sciences Collections

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Lauris Olson
Contact:
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
203 Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
University of Pennsylvania
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
U.S.A.
215-898-0119
Website

Guide history

Created for SOCI 103-401 / ASAM 001-401: Asian Americans in Contemporary Society (Fall 2014).

Updated for SOCI 103-401 / ASAM 001-401: Asian Americans in Contemporary Society (Fall 2015).

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