Smith College Libraries Class Guides - AAS112: Methods of Inquiry

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OED

Oxford English Dictionary
The major English-language covering both historical and current usage.

Encyclopedias

The majority of encyclopedias and research guides relating to African Americans generally are located in the Neilson Library reference collection (level 1 north) in this call number area: E 184 - E 185.
Encyclopedias and research guides on specific topics are located in other call number areas of the reference collection. For example: PS = American literature (including African-American); BL = religion (including African-American); etc.
When starting research in a specific discipline (literature, film, philosophy, psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, etc.), please ask a reference librarian for help. S/he can suggest many sources beyond those listed below.
Or, try searching for them yourself in the online catalog using Subject Keywords; for example: sociology encyclopedias.
Use these sources for background information and a list of suggested readings.

Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History: The Black Experience in the Americas (6 vols.)
Call Number: ref E 185 .E54 2006
Encyclopedia of African American Society (2 vols.)
Call Number: ref E 185 .E546 2005
Oxford African American Studies Center
Includes all articles from these core reference works: African American National Biography; Africana; Encyclopedia of African American History, 1619-1895; Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present; and Black Women in America.
SPECIAL TOPICS:
Color of Words
Call Number: ref E 184.A1 H466 1997
Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang
Call Number: ref PE 3727 .N4 M34 1994b
Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture (3 vols.)
Call Number: ref DT 16.5 .E53 2008
Encyclopedia of African American History 1619-1895 (3 vols.)
Call Number: ref E 185 .E545 2006
Encyclopedia of the Great Black Migration (3 vols.)
Call Number: ref E 185.6 .E54 2006
Jim Crow Encyclopedia (2 vols.)
Call Number: ref E 185.61 .J53 2008
Historical Dictionary of School Segregation and Desegregation
Call Number: ref LC 212.52 .R34 1998
Encyclopedia of African and African-American Religions
Call Number: ref BL 2462.5 .E53 2001
Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Literature (5 vols.)
Call Number: ref PS 153 .N5 G73 2005
Writing African American Women: An Encyclopedia of Literature by and about Women of Color (2 vols.)
Call Number: ref PS 153 .N5 W756 2006
Reel Black Talk: A Sourcebook of 50 American Filmmakers
Call Number: ref PN 1998.2 .M66 1997