Premchand

Modern Indian Literature South Asian Studies 124 "Resources for Research" Session South/Southeast Asia Library

Part 1 Where do I start?

1. Go to the Library Home Page

2. Think of a few words that describe your subject.

Part 2 Finding books: Pathfinder

Click on Pathfinder to open a search screen

1. Click the "Subject Keyword" button and type your search terms in the box. Click "submit search".

Look at the result. Click on a title that interests you and look at the subject headings. Subject headings may be different from the keywords you've chosen. Click on a subject heading to find more book titles on the same subject.

Examples:
partition india>
India -- History -- Partition, 1947.

arranged marriage>
India -- Social life and customs -- Fiction.

post-colonial narratives>
Decolonization in literature.

2. Try the same search terms in a title keyword search. Note the difference in your search results. Some topics produce a better result with a subject search and some with a title word search, so try both.
3. To find books by an author click "Personal Author Phrase" and type the authors name in the search box. Example: Pritam, Amrita. To find books about an author click "Subject Keyword" and type the author's name in the search box.
4. To find primary resources first search by subject or keyword. Then click "modify" and chose "subject keyword" from the pull down menu. Type "sources" in the search box.
5. To search for newspapers by their place of publication click "Advanced Search". Choose "ng: Geographical Access [keyword]". Type in the place name. Example: Calcutta.
6. You can email a citation to your email address. Click "save" beside the record(s) you want to email. Click "Show Saved". Enter you email address and click "email".

Part 3 Using Expanded Academic ASAP, a database of articles 

1. Open Expanded Academic ASAP from the Library homepage www.lib.berkeley.edu Electronic Indexes & Abstracts.
2. Search using keywords for your subject. Example, partition india.
3. Your search yields over 50 citations. You can add a term to limit the search further.
   Example, partition, india, literature. Another way to limit the search is to check "Limit the current search to articles with text.
4. When you find a useful article, click on "view text and retrieval choices". You can email the citiation or text to your email account. Part 4 Other "Electronic Indexes & Abstracts"

Part 4: Other "Electronic Indexes & Abstracts"

Bibliography of Asian Studies

Historical Abstracts

Historical Abstracts is a bibliographic database containing citations to articles on the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada, which are covered in the bibliographic database America: History and Life). The database comprises over half a million bibliographic entries and covers over 2,000 journals published worldwide. All abstracts are written in English. In addition to including the key historical journals from virtually every major country, Historical Abstracts includes a targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities. Historical Abstracts includes approximately 3,000 citations to historical book reviews and citations to abstracts of dissertations worldwide.

 

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe

LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe is one of the single largest web-based databases for current worldwide news and information. Academic Universe supports a broad range of interdisciplinary research. The database contains full text and abstracts of news, business, and legal information and provides full-text access to nearly 6,000 individual titles. Users can search foreign and domestic newspapers and wire services; radio and television transcripts; and business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. There is wide geographic coverage and a translations from foreign-language sources, as well as news services like Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France Press, and Xinhua (New China) News Agency. The database is updated daily for most newspapers and even hourly for some wire services and media transcripts.

 

MLA [Modern Language Association International Bibliography]

MLA [Modern Language Association International Bibliography of Modern Languages and Literatures] includes international coverage of materials in the areas of literature, languages, linguistics, drama, and folklore. The database contains over 1 million citations from over 4,000 journals, series, books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. Coverage includes 1963 - present.

 

Part 5: Using the Internet

Some useful links for South Asia topics:

Current Events

General reference works

The Cambridge encyclopedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. Cambridge [England] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1989.
SSEA: DS334.9 .C36 1989 REF

Patterson, Maureen L. P. , South Asian civilizations : a bibliographic synthesis / Maureen L.P. Patterson, in collaboration with William J. Alspaugh. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1981.
S/SE Asia DS339.A12.P37 REF
Circ. note: Non-Circulating

The place to find good pre-1980 English language monographs on just about any South Asian topic you can imagine. The table of contents is 83 pages long and comprehensive outline of the history of the subcontinent. If other searches are yielding anything take a look here for clues (does that personality you're trying to find spell their name Mukerji; Mukherji; Mookerji; or, Mookerjee?).

Guide to Indian periodical literature. Gurgaon, Indian Documentation Service [etc.]
S/SE Asia AJ3.G9 REF
Library has: BOUND 1(1964)-

Reference works on literature

Datta, Amaresh, ed., Encyclopaedia of Indian literature. New Delhi : Sahitya Akademi, 1987-c1992.
S/SE Asia PK2902.E53 1987 REF
Library has: v.1-5 (A-Zorgot) (1987-c1992)

Nataranjan, Nalini, ed., Handbook of twentieth-century literatures of India. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1996.
S/SE Asia PK5416.H27 1996 REF

Compiled by Suzanne McMahon.