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

For further research assistance, please contact Maureen Perry (mperry@usm.maine.edu; 753-6546), Humanities Liaison at Lewiston-Auburn College Library, University of Southern Maine.

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

The following is a listing of selected subject headings relating to the humanities. Each subject heading is hotlinked directly to URSUS

Civilization western

Communication in the humanities

English language rhetoric study and teaching

Interdisciplinary approach in education

Psychology and the humanities

Religion and the humanities

Science and the humanities

United States study and teaching

To obtain materials not located at your USM campus, but located using URSUS, click on the Request button on the URSUS screen and enter your name and barcode number (found under the barcode on your USM Card, always beginning with 25022....). Your barcode will first need to be activated at the Circulation Desk.

To find books, journal titles, videos, government documents and other materials not available through the University of Maine System or MaineInfoNet, please check Worldcat, which includes bibliographic records for more than 36 million items held at OCLC member libraries throughout the world and is updated daily.

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

The Library of Congress provides a breakdown of the call number classification scheme. To find a listing of psychology call numbers click on any of the subcategories to see more detail.

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

Acting on the past : historical performance across the disciplines
GOR Stacks NX212 .A25 2000

Asian American Literature: reviews and criticism of works by American writers of Asian descent
LEW Reference PS153 .A84 A82 1999 

Beyond relativism : science and human values
POR Stacks B53 M36 1993

The Bloomsbury guide to women's literature
LEW Reference PN471 B57 1992

Chronology of African-American history : significant events and people from 1619 to the present
LEW Reference E185 .H64 1991

Disability studies : enabling the humanities
LEW Stacks HV1568.2 .D594 2002  + CD Rom

The Encyclopedia of religion
LEW Reference BL31 E46 1987 

Encyclopedia of the Holocaust
LEW Reference D804.3 E53 1990, vols. 1-4

Gay & lesbian literature
POR and LEW Reference PN56.H57 G36 1994 , vols. 1-2

Jewish American literature : a Norton anthology
LEW Stacks PS508 .J4 J45 2000 

The Johns Hopkins guide to literary theory and criticism
POR Reference PN81 .J64 1994, LEW Reference PN81 .J554 2005 

Native North American literature : biographical and critical information on native writers and orators from the United States and Canada from historical times to the present
LEW Reference PS508 I5 N38 1994

The New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics
POR and LEW Reference PN1021 .N39 1993

Norton Anthology of African American Literature
LEW Reference PS508.N3 N67 2004 

Relating humanities and social thought
LEW Stacks  H33 .E3 v.4

Steeples and smokestacks : a collection of essays on the Franco-American experience in New England
LEW Stacks F15.F85 S859 1996

Timelines of Native American history : through the centuries with Mother Earth and Father Sky
LEW Reference E77 .H395 1997

Voices of multicultural America : notable speeches delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic, and Native Americans, 1790-1995
LEW Reference PS663.M55 V64 1996

Because of the lengthy publishing cycle for a book, information in a book is not always current. Periodical articles are current sources of information. 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. The Finding Articles tutorial provides more information on how to find articles.

To find scholarly articles it is necessary to consult a discipline-specific electronic or print index/database. The following are electronic indexing sources available to the Unversity of Southern Maine community.

America: History and Life
Coverage From 1954
Index to research on the history of the United States and Canada, from prehistoric times to the present. Includes references to journal articles, books and book reviews, dissertations, and collective works.

American Humanities Index
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.

LION (Literature Online)
A fully searchable library of over 300,000 works of English and American literature, published by Chadwyck-Healy.

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.

Project MUSE
Coverage from 1993 (varies by journal)
Indexes and provides full-text access to over 220 journals from 37 scholarly publishers. Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and many others.

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.

National Endowment for the Humanities

Poetry Chaikhana: Sacred Poetry from Around the World

United Nations Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Voice of the Shuttle

In using resources it is imperative that they be used ethically and legally. The sources listed here provide assistance in following correct citation methods.

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 document, and generating a bibliography in the correct style for publications. See the Endnote Help for further information.

Citation Styles: MLA

Citing Sources (MLA) (Indiana University)

MLA (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition
POR, GOR, and LEW Reference LB2369 .G53 2003

Citation Styles: APA

APA Documentation (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center)

Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish : Psychology and Related Fields
LEW Reference BF76.5 .C645 1993

Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th edition
POR and GOR Reference BF76.7 .P83 2001; LEW Reserve BF76.7 .P83 2001

Using American Psychlogical Association (APA) Format (Updated to 5th Edition) (Purdue University Online Writing Lab)

Citation Styles: More

Bedford Handbook companion site

Online: A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources

Last update: 09.01.2006 mp