Keyword Brainstorm!
Think about the topics you have been discussing or reading about so far in this class. What are some key words or terms you might use to describe those topics? Enter a few ideas in the Padlet below!
Tertiary Sources: Background Sources for Literature
Subject encyclopedias are great for:
- choosing a topic
- educating yourself quickly
- finding perspective on a topic
- discovering additional subject terminology
- subject-specific bibliographies
Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural TheoryPublication Date: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of LiteraturePublication Date: 2015-present
Oxford Encyclopedia of Latina and Latino LiteraturePublication Date: 2020
Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature 1900-2003Publication Date: 2004
Encyclopedia of Latin American LiteraturePublication Date: 1997
Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative TheoryPublication Date: 2007
Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 0195156005Also print copy: Olin Library Reference (Non-Circulating) E 184 .S75 O97 2005 + (4 vols)
- Gale Literature Resource CenterA literature database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information on authors and their works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, history, and journalism). Draws from Gale Group's core literary databases including Contemporary authors, Dictionary of literary biography, and Contemporary literary criticism. Provides additional search capability for Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of literature and Gale literary index.
Finding Books in the Library Catalog
Search the Library Catalog to find books and ebooks in our collections. You may enter whatever words you think describe your topic, but using the Library of Congress subject headings can also be useful. For example:
Storytelling - subject heading browse
Latin American Fiction - subject heading browse
Alvarez, Julia - subject heading browse
Identity (Psychology) - subject heading browse
Library Tutorials -- Teach Yourself!
The tutorials linked below will give you the basic knowledge you'll need to effectively navigate the Cornell Library web site and the skills that will enable you to find the information you need for your assignments:
How to Find a Book in the Library
Using Wikipedia to Start Your Research -- But Not End There!
Databases for Literary Criticism in Periodicals and Books
- Latino Literature: Poetry, Drama and Fiction This link opens in a new window"Latino Literature brings together more than 100,000 pages pages of poetry, fiction, and over 450 plays written in English and Spanish by hundreds of Chicano, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Latino authors working in the United States. Among the gems of the collection are nearly 800 items (poems, novels, and plays) that have never been published before. Researchers will also find numerous Chicano folk tales and audio files of selected poems and plays. It contains over 133,465 pages." (Homepage, viewed April 3, 2014)
- MLA International BibliographyThe premier bibliography covering international scholarship in languages, literatures, and film back to 1926. Includes books, articles in books, and journal articles. Does not index book reviews.
- ProQuest One LiteratureFormer name: Literature Online. Offers a full-text collection of poetry, drama, and prose with complementary reference sources as well as articles, monographs and dissertations.
- Gale LiteratureA periodical article and reference database combining biographical, bibliographical, and contextual information on authors and their works.
- Humanities International IndexIndexes articles and books across the arts and humanities disciplines from a multitude of U.S. and international publications. Good source for book reviews of contemporary writers.
Databases for History and the Social Sciences
- Historical AbstractsCovers historical scholarship in journals published worldwide.
- Sociology Source UltimateProvides citations and direct links to the texts of journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings encompassing sub-disciplines and related areas of the social sciences,
Databases, Digital Collections, & Resources in Latin American Studies
- HLAS onlineThe online Handbook of Latin American Studies is a searchable, annotated bibliography of scholarly works on Latin American social sciences and humanities.
- Hapi OnlineHAPI Online contains authoritative, worldwide information about Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region and Hispanics in the United States. From analyses of current political, economic, and social issues to unique coverage of Latin American arts and letters, HAPI Online contains complete bibliographic citations to articles, book reviews, documents, original literary works and other materials from 1970 to the present.
- Chicano DatabaseProduced by the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, this bibliographic index covers a wide range of materials focused on the Mexican-American and Chicano experience, as well as the broader Latino experience of Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Central American immigrants since 1992. Its content is designed to further research, teaching and scholarship for Chicano studies programs and extended ethnic studies curricula, giving researchers targeted access to materials that explore the broad dimensions of class, race and gender within the Chicano and Latino U.S. experience.
- Digital Archive of Latin American and Caribbean Ephemera The Latin American Ephemera Collection contains thousands of digitized pamphlets, brochures, flyers, posters, placards and other printed items created since around the last quarter of the 20th century by a wide variety of social activists, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, political parties, public policy think tanks, and other types of organizations across Latin America, in order to publicize their views, positions, agendas, policies, events, and activities. The vast majority are rare, hard-to-find primary sources unavailable elsewhere.
- Visualizing Caribbean LiteratureInteractive database featuring over 3,000 literary works about the Caribbean experience or created by authors who identify as Caribbean people.
Digital Collections: Samples for Latin American Literature, Latinx Studies, & Beyond
- Archive of Immigrant Voices The Archive of Immigrant Voices was established to collect stories of the experience of migration. The purpose of the archive is to create, accumulate, and preserve a repository of memories that will not only reveal living history and features of the recent past, but will also document the fine lines of social change that might be otherwise ignored or lost to history
- California Cultures: Hispanic Americans The items in these exhibitions trace the history of Hispanic Americans in California from the Mission system and Californios into the 20th century: Mexican immigration into California, the farmworkers' labor struggles, and the Chicano Civil Rights movement and La Raza, which also resulted in an explosion of cultural art.
- Cartas a la Familia El proyecto Cartas a la Familia preserva, digitaliza, analiza y presenta al público una colección de la correspondencia y otros documentos personales de una familia mexicoamericana que emigró de Zacatecas, México, a los estados de Colorado y Nebraska, Estados Unidos, durante la primera mitad del siglo XX.
- Carteles de Cine Over 1300 posters from 1960s-2016 designed by Cuban artists for both Cuban and foreign films, film festivals, and film related special events. Posters were commissioned by Cinemateca de Cuba, part of Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos.
- Chicana por mi Raza Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Collective is a group of researchers, educators, students, archivists and technologists dedicated to preserving imperiled Chicanx and Latinx histories of the long Civil Rights Era. Started by Professor Maria Cotera and filmmaker Linda Garcia Merchant in 2009, CPMR has traveled to over one dozen states to collect hundreds of hours of oral histories with notable Chicanas, Latinas, and allies. The project has also scanned personal archives for preservation and access. Using largely volunteer and student labor, CPMR offers a model for grassroots digital history that encourages further research into understudied aspects of the American experience. The overarching objective of the project is to provide broad‐based public access to oral histories, material culture, correspondence, and rare out‐of‐print publications for use in both scholarly research and the classroom. Chicana por mi Raza began collecting oral histories in 2009. Since then, the CPMR team has interviewed more than 80 women. From these interviews we've collected and processed approximately 10,000 archival items, with 3000 or so awaiting digitizing, description and uploading. Most of the oral histories consist of several hours of film footage, and some women have been interviewed more than once. Our online digital repository currently contains approximately 7,000 available digital records and over 500 interview clips.
- Cultura Chicana El Portal de cultura chicana ofrecer obras de creación e investigación sobre dicha literatura. Nuestra intención es presentar al público la producción literaria, cultural y crítica de las chicanas y los chicanos, oriundos y residentes del Suroeste en Estados Unidos de América.
- Dartmouth Latino Oral History Project The Dartmouth Latino Oral History Project (DLOHP) is the outcome of oral histories produced for an undergraduate Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Course entitled “Crossing Over: Latino Migrant Roots and Transitions” taught by Prof. Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera (Anthropology; Latino Studies). This course focuses on the experiences of Latino—Mexican, Salvadoran, Cuban, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Guatemalan—transnational migrants living in the U.S. The literature draws from anthropology and its neighboring disciplines in an attempt to understand the social, political, and economic processes that shape the varied experiences of Latino migrants
- L.A. Xicano Oral Histories In this set of interviews, artists talk about childhood, education, and career and inspirations for their art. Their recollections offer insight into not only the work of the individual artists but also how these artists were interconnected and were affected by cultural and political developments, particularly the Chicano Movement.
- New Roots: Voices from Carolina del Norte This is a bilingual oral history archive that explores Latin American and Caribbean heritage in the U.S. South. Listen to the first-hand perspectives of North Carolinians who share experiences of migration, settlement, demographic change, and leadership.
- Onda Latina: The Mexican American Experience The Onda Latina Collection consists of 226 digitally preserved audio programs including interviews, music, and informational programs related to the Mexican American community and their concerns from the radio series "The Mexican American Experience" and "A esta hora conversamos" the Longhorn Radio Network, 1976-1982.
- Podcast: Dialogues in Afrolatinidad Dialogues in Afrolatinidad explores history, culture, and contemporary issues in Afro-Latin America and U.S.-Afro-Latinx communities. The podcast features interviews with scholars, writers, educators, artists, and community leaders who share their passion for Afro-Latin American and Afro-Latinx Studies, the significance of their intellectual, creative, or community engagement, and resources for learning more.
- StoryCorps: Historias In 2009, the Cuban Heritage Collection became a community partner of the StoryCorp Historias project, “an initiative to record the diverse stories and life experiences of Latinos in the United States.” As part of this partnership, the Cuban Heritage Collection received all oral histories recorded in Miami and all interviews in which participants self-identified as Cuban or of Cuban descent, regardless of interview location.
Librarian
Hannah Toombs (she/her/hers)
Engaged Learning Librarian
Liaison to Latin American Studies
Latina/o Studies, Spanish & Portuguese
hct37@cornell.edu
Cornell's Focal Theme for 2024-25: Silence
Citation Matters!
It's important to cite others' work ethically. As literary scholars, writers, and appreciators of literature, who you cite and how you give credit to other creators has the power to amplify their work and literary voice. Below are some useful concepts, tools, and resources to help you practice inclusive and ethical research!
ZoteroBib is a useful tool for generating bibliographies in your preferred citation style. You can enter information manually, or enter a URL to the resource to generate a citation.
Excelsior Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource to refer to for questions regarding citation style, in-text citations, footnotes and endnotes, or any formatting questions you may have.
Cornell Libraries offer citation management resources and workshops.
Remember to consider citation justice as you create a reference list throughout your research. Citation justice is defined as: "The act of citing authors/sources based on identity to uplift marginalized voices with the knowledge that citation is used as a form of power in a patriarchal society based on white supremacy" (Coalter 2022).
In reviewing the references, artwork, and other sources you've compiled in your research, ask yourself:
Whose voices are represented?
Whose voices are missing?
Ask A Librarian!
Some Helpful Research Tools
How to Critically Analyze Information Sources
Distinguishing Scholarly from Non-Scholarly Periodicals
How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
Access Anywhere - a Bookmark link that allows access to licensed databases, journals, and e-books that would otherwise be restricted or hidden behind paywalls.
Land Acknowledgment
Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.