Introduction | Reference Sources | Indexes & Databases | Internet Resources | Citation Styles

In order to find books, journal titles, videos, government documents and other materials held in the University of Maine System you will need to consult URSUS, the online catalog. Because journal article citations are not individually included in URSUS, you will need to use a discipline-specific index to find this information (see Resources by Subject).

If you do not know the exact subject heading describing the topic you need, try doing a keyword search using other word/s related to that topic and then click on the subject heading links found within the relevant records to find additional, useful resources.

The Library of Congress provides a breakdown of the call number classification scheme. To find a listing of click on any of the subcategories to see more detail. Broad subject headings such as American Literature, Art, History etc may be narrowed by adding a geographic location such as United States, New England, Maine.

To obtain materials not located at your USM, but still within URSUS, you will need to click on the Request button on the URSUS screen and enter your name and barcode number (found under the barcode on your USM Card, which begins with 25022....). Your barcode will need to be activated at the Circulation Desk.

If the item is not available through the University of Maine System (URSUS) or MaineCat you can request it via Interlibrary Loan (Illiad).

The traditional use of primary sources available in print and microfilm continues to be the foundation for research and a major tool in teaching students to think and evaluate critically. Locating, evaluating and citing primary sources is even more challenging for researchers when using primary sources on the internet. Consult the Introduction to Primary Sources page for more information on locating and evaluating primary sources

Special Collections, part of the University Libraries, collects and preserves rare materials, including books, manuscripts, photographs, and artifacts. The Department is made up of three meta-collections: General Rare Books and Manuscripts, the University Archives, and the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine. For more information on the use of this collection for American and New England Studies, consult the resource guide.

Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education is the only separately established rare map library in northern New England. The Smith and Osher collections comprise fine examples of original maps, tlases, geographies, and globes spanning the years from 1475 to the present. The original materials are supplemented by many facsimile editions of both maps and atlases.These valuable study aids are augmented by a growing reference collection of more than 800 volumes of related works, including cartobibliographies, regional histories, dealer and exhibition catalogues, and monographs and journals on the history of cartography.

Reference sources are useful tools to obtain background information and to develop a vocabulary of possible search terms. The following items are resources available within the University of Southern Maine system.

• Dictionaries
• Encyclopedias

Dictionaries

Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature
This concise version contains brief biographies of important authors, plot summaries of individual works, descriptions of important literary movements, and a wealth of information on other aspects of American literary life and history from the Colonial period to the modern era. It devotes approximately 325 of the biographical entries to contemporary writers, such as William Kennedy, Grace Paley, and Raymond Carver. (NOTE: Select Literature)

Dictionary of American Biography
Por & Gor Reference: E176 D563

Dictionary of Architecture
This dictionary covers all periods of Western architectural history. It includes biographies of architects and others who have made a contribution to architecture, from Brunelleschi and Gropius to Le Corbusier and Brunel. A number of longer entries explain the different schools, from Bauhaus to the Federal Style, and set each movement in its historical context. (NOTE: Select Art & Architecture)

Dictionary of American History
Por & Gor Reference E174 D52 1976

The third edition of the Dictionary of American History is the first comprehensive revision of the classic reference source originally published in 1940. Entries from previous editions have been updated and revised in light of historical developments and current scholarship, and over 800 entirely new entries have been commissioned to cover recent events ("Bush v. Gore") and topics neglected by previous editions ("Harlem Renaissance"). For the first time, 1,500 illustrations and 300 maps have been incorporated into the main body of the work which includes over 4,400 articles ranging in length from 100 to 8,000 words.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
This provides nearly 10,000 biographical and critical essays on the lives, works, and careers of the world's most influential literary figures from all eras and genres.

Dictionary of 20 th Century Art
From Purism to Postmodernism, from Guerrilla Girls to David Hockney, it provides explanations, gives broad coverage of painting, sculpture, and graphic art, encompasses all the major movements and styles of the twentieth-century. It also includes entries on art schools, galleries, exhibitions, prizes, terms, techniques, collectors, critics, dealers and patrons. And, although concentrating on the great names, it is not confined to the mainstream of modern art, and features many of the interesting figures at the periphery of modern art.
(NOTE: Select Art & Architecture)

Dictionary of Geography
This dictionary provides comprehensive coverage of words and terms encountered in both human and physical geography. It covers a vast range of subjects, including cartography, surveying, meteorology, climatology, biogeography, ecology, geology, geomorphology, population, migration, agriculture, industry, transport, and development. There is also extensive discussion of topics such as plate tectonics, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and aerial differentiation. (NOTE: Select Earth & Environmental Sciences)

Historical Dictionary of New England
Por Reference F2 H65 2003

Historical Dictionary of North America
Por Reference E35 W475 2005

Historical Gazeteer of the United States
Por Reference E154 H45 2005

Oxford Dictionary of Art
The Oxford Dictionary of Art is the guide to the art of the Western world. It provides a careful balance of fact and critical appraisal, ranging across painting, sculpture, and the graphic arts from classical times to the present. (NOTE: Select Art & Architecture)

Visual Dictionary of Architecture
Por Ref NA31 C44 1995

Encyclopedias

American National Biography
Por Reference CT213 A68 1999

Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History
Por Reference E169.1 E624 2001

Encyclopedia of American Studies
Por Reference E169.1 E625 20001

Encyclopedia of New England: The Culture and History of an American Region
Por Reference F4 E53 2005

St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture
Por Reference E169.1 S764 2000

Indexes and databases are used to locate material published in periodicals. There are two main types of periodicals: scholarly and popular. Scholarly periodicals are usually referred to as journals. Articles in journals contain reports of primary research; the articles are written by experts in the field and for other researchers/scholars; use terms and language specific to that discipline; may include graphs, charts, etc. related to the topic; most often are peer reviewed via an editorial board; are published by professional organization or society, university, research centers, scholarly presses; and often include a bibliography. Popular periodical articles contain general information; are written using easily understood language that appeals to a varied audience; are usually written by journalists or others who are not experts in the field; do not include citations; has a limited or non-existent editorial review board; and may contain glossy photographs.

For more information on locating journal articles, please review the tutorial called Finding Articles.

America: History & Life:
America: History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises over 490,000 bibliographic entries for periodicals dating back to 1954. In addition to articles, each year America: History and Life includes approximately 6,000 citations of book and media reviews from a selection of over one hundred key journals in US and Canadian history and related fields. The database also includes citations to abstracts of dissertations published in these areas.

American Humanities
The American Humanities Index is a collection of bibliographic references to literary, scholarly and creative journals published in the United States and Canada. This database covers over 700 journals published from 1975 to the present, many of which cannot be found in other reference works. All journals included in the American Humanities Index are indexed in their entirety (cover to cover). This database provides citation information for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems and fiction. Photographs, paintings and illustrations are also referenced.

American Slavery: A Composite Autobiography
Between 1936 and 1938, the WPA Federal Writers' Project hired field workers to collect the life histories of former slaves. Transcripts for 2,000 interviews, from seventeen states, were then compiled by the Library of Congress. The collection and the index are now searchable online.

Annals of American History
Annals of American History provides access to over 2,100 original full-text source documents on United States history from 1493 to the present. Includes speeches, essays, biographies, landmark court decisions, poems, interviews, and editorials from more than 1,500 authors

Archives Database
The Archives database is a catalog of three prominent archival collections on Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces: the Maine Folklife Center and Special Collections at Fogler Library located at the University of Maine, Orono, and the Acadian Archives/Archives Acadiennes located on the Fort Kent campus. Collection level bibliographic records represent research materials in Maine folklore and folklife, and primary resources on Maine-related local history. Much of the information is unavailable from any other source.
Many of the manuscript collections and some archive files from Special Collections are included in this database.

Art Index
Art Index is a bibliographic database that indexes articles about art, architecture, archaeology, crafts, design, museology, photography, television and textiles, in addition to all aspects of art including graphic, folk, and decorative, from periodicals published throughout the world. Periodical coverage includes English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins, as well as periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Japanese, Spanish, Dutch, and Swedish. In addition to articles, this database indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals.

Art Index Retrospective
Art Index Retrospective is a bibliographic database that cumulates citations to volumes 1-32 of Wilson's Art Index. It is international in scope and covers architecture, archaeology, crafts, design, museology, photography, television and textiles, in addition to all aspects of art including graphic, folk, and decorative. It also includes English-language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum bulletins, as well as periodicals published in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Dutch. Also indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in the indexed periodicals

Arts & Humanities Index
Indexes the world's leading arts and humanities journals. Indexes articles, bibliographies, editorials, letters, reviews, and more. This index is only available from the library.

Digital Dissertations
Digital Dissertations is an index to dissertations from 1861 to the present, representing the work of authors from over 1,000 North American graduate schools and European universities. It includes the 350-word abstracts written by the author for those dissertations published after 1979. More limited coverage of master's theses from 1962 on (UM theses are not included); citations for those published after 1987 include 150-word abstracts. Database includes full text of dissertations written at the University of Maine after 1996.

ERIC
Indexes and abstracts journal articles and documents on education research and practice, from 1966 to the present. Updated monthly.

In the First Person: Index to Letters, Diaries, Oral Histories and other Personal Narratives
In the First Person provides in-depth indexing of more than 2,500 collections of oral history in English from around the world.It allows for keyword searching of more than 260,000 pages of full-text by more than 9,000 individuals from all walks of life. It also contains pointers to at least 2,500 audio and video files and 16,000 bibliographic records.

LION Literature Online
Lion is a fully searchable library of more than 350,000 works of English and American poetry, drama and prose, 136 full-text literature journals, and other key criticism and reference resources.

Making of America (Cornell Collection)

Making of America (MOA) is a digital library of primary sources in American social history primarily from the antebellum period through reconstruction. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of education, psychology, American history, sociology, religion, and science & technology. The book collection currently contains approximately 8,500 books with 19 th century imprints. The journal collection contains 50,000 articles.

MLA International Bibliography
MLA is an index to scholarly research in literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. It indexes articles from more than 3,500 journals and series and also includes monographs, working papers, proceedings, and bibliographies.

National Gallery of Art: the Collection
NGA presents information about the collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. It allows users to search the collection by artist, title, or a combination of criteria. The National Gallery of Art database contains a list of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and works on paper that are grouped by school.

Sociological Abstracts
Sociological Abstracts covers sociology and related disciplines including anthropology, criminology, demography, education, gerontology, mental health, minority studies, political science, public health, social psychology, social work, urban studies, welfare programs, and women's studies. It is comprehensive and international in scope. Sociological Abstracts covers about 2,600 journals in 30 different languages from 55 different countries. Also includes books, conference papers, and doctoral dissertations.

Women & Social Movements in the United States 1600 - 2000
A collection of documentary projects pertaining to women and social movements in the United States. Primary source materials include books, images, manuscripts, journal articles, pamphlets, letters, commentaries and bibliographies, documenting the multiplicity of women's reform activities. This database has been made available through USM Faculty Technology Grant awards to the History and Women's Studies programs.

Women's Studies International
Index to the interdisciplinary field of women's studies, this database covers material in the fields of arts and humanities, business, economics, education, history, international relations, political science, public policy, and sociology. Covers from 1972 forward, and includes journal articles, books, book chapters, and dissertations.

World Cat
Bibliographic records for more than 36 million items held at OCLC member libraries throughout the world. Includes all types of information resources. Updated daily.

World Wide Political Science Abstracts
This database supplies citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law and public administration/policy.

There is no authority control for the Internet. In choosing Internet resources it is imperative to evaluate the authenticity of the source. Thinking Critically about Discipline-Based World Wide Web Resources (UCLA College Library) provides excellent evaluation criteria. The following selected resources have been chosen because of authenticity and comprehensiveness of coverage.

19 th Century United States Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies Online
This site designed to bring together the a wide variety of materials available on the Web for studying 19th century American literature, history and culture.

Abstracts of American Studies Dissertations 1986 - 2000
Information is arranged alphabetically by author and is based on details submitted to the American Studies Association by American Studies Graduate Programs.

American Memory
American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art provides researchers with access to the largest collection of documents on the history of the visual arts in the United States. The collection totals more than thirteen million items.

Bound For Glory: America in Color
Bound for Glory: America in Color is the first major exhibition of the little known color images taken by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information.

Cultural Maps In American Studies
This is an online historical atlas, providing links to several map collections, digitized resources; the collection at the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Library stands out.

Maine Historical Society
The mission of the Maine Historical Society is to promote the understanding and enjoyment of Maine history. To carry out this mission, the society collects, preserves, and exhibits important historical resources and treasures; facilitates research into family, local, regional and national history; and provides educational opportunities that engage the public and make history accessible and meaningful.

Maine Memory Network
The Maine Memory Network (MMN), a project of the Maine Historical Society (MHS), is a statewide cultural database of important documents relating to Maine’s history. The database is comprised of photographs, documents, artwork and artifacts contributed by Maine’s cultural institutions

National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, and public programs in the humanities.

Associations

American Studies Association (ASA)

New England American Studies Association (NEASA)

Citation Styles

In using resources it is imperative that they be used ethically and legally. It is recommended that the Chicago Manual of Style be used to cite references. For any questions, consult your instructor or project / thesis advisor.

The Chicago Manual of Style
Por Reference Z253 U69 2003

For examples check the citation formats on the ANES home page.

USM has a site license for Endnote, a personal reference database program. The main functions of this program include maintenance of a database of references, downloading references from other databases, using the database to link to references in word-processed documents, and generating a bibliography in the correct style for publications. See the Endnote Help for further information.

Created by: Casandra Fitzherbert
Created on: 04.01.2005
Last Updated: 08.17.2006