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HIST 317: Religion, Power and Politics in Latin America (HC): Finding Books

History 317: Religion, Power and Politics in Latin America (Krippner) Spring 2016

Identifying Relevant Books

Use Tripod to look for relevant books owned by Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr.

The following suggested subject searches are only a sampling of possibilities. To find materials on a topic not listed below, try doing a keyword search in the Tripod Library Catalog to find relevant titles and then using the subject headings assigned to those items to find more.

Beyond the Tri-College Collections

History Compass

This journal is devoted to the study of history.  All of the articles are written in the form of literature reviews.  Specialists analyze the issues involved in a particular question and discuss individual books, journal articles, and other scholarship that are essential for research in that area.  Browse or search the journal website for overviews related to your research topic.  The bibliographies accompanying articles in History Compass will lead you to relevant  sources for further reading.  Other Compass titles, like Religion Compass and Literature Compass, may have useful articles as well.

If you don't find a relevant literature review in History Compass, check for titles in Dissertations and Theses (see below).  Most doctoral students will write a chapter of their dissertation in which they survey the available scholarship on their topic.

Oxford Bibliographies Online

The Oxford Bibliographies Online lay out the parameters of various issues within a particular field of study and evaluate the importance of individidual books and journal articles in the form of an annotated bibliography.  It gives you the benefit of expert advice when choosing what to read. 

See essays below for some relevant examples:

Dissertations

Doctoral students go through an exhaustive literature search when writing their dissertations. They also tend to work on new questions, sometimes ones that have received very little attention from scholars before. You can sometimes obtain these dissertations and benefit from all the bibliographic treasues and new ideas. Check ProQuest Dissertations & Theses to identify dissertations on your topic.