Central American Studies Guide

For assistance in research in Chicana/o Studies contact the subject specialist: Jennie Quiñónez-Skinner

Getting Started -- Books and Media

To browse the library's lastet holdings (books and media) with keywords related to Central American Studies in the title of the book or video via the Oviatt Library Catalog - Central American Studies. Since the link is long, you can bookmark http://tinyurl.com/cascsun on your browser.

Types of Resources

http://library.csun.edu/Guides/ResearchStrategies/GettingStarted - Be alert to the need or requirement for specific types of information such as primary and secondary or scholarly or credible. There are specific research tools that may assist in the search for required types of information.

Keywords : Central America/ns

Information on the topic of Central Americans may be found using a variety of search terms combined with any or all of the following terms which can be used to identify a specific group:

Hispanics
Hispanic Americans
Hispanic American women
Latino
Latinos
Latinas
Central Americans

In the library catalog or article databases, copy and paste any of the terms below to help locate materials helpful to your research.

"central america" or Belize or "Costa Rica" or "El Salvador" or salvadoran or Guatemala or Hondura or Nicaragua or Panama

Belize OR Belizean OR Beliciano(a)*
"Costa Rica" OR "Costa Rican" OR Costarriqueño(a)
"El Salvador" OR Salvadoran OR Salvadoreño(a)
Guatemala OR Guatemalan OR Guatemalteco(a) OR Guatematelco(a)
Honduras OR Honduran OR Hondureño(a)
Nicaragua OR Nicaraguan OR Nicaragüense OR Nicaragüeño(a)
Panama OR Panamanian OR Panameno(a)

* National language of Belize is English, so the Spanish of Belizean would be used only by Spanish speakers.

Ideas for Topics

Specialized Sources (on the surface/free web)

Latino Policy & Issues Brief series – UCLA
http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/press/briefs/documents/PB22_000.pdf
Pew Hispanic Center – Chronicling Latinos diverse experiences in a changing America
http://www.pewhispanic.org/
TRPI -The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute
http://www.trpi.org/

Finding Articles in Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers

Consult the "Databases by Subject" on the Oviatt Library homepage for additional indexes. You should also use (How to Locate Articles Online or in the Library)

Specialized indexes to articles – Use the “Databases A-Z” linked on the Oviatt Library home page to link to these:

Chicano Database Over 59,000 items on Mexican-American and Chicano topics. 1960-
Ethnic NewsWatch + Ethnic NewsWatch: A History (ProQuest) Full-text collection of the ethnic, minority, and native press. Over 270 titles, 1960
HAPI Online: Hispanic American Periodicals Index Indexes more than 500 key social science and humanities journals published throughout the world. Many of the citations are linked to full text. 1970-
Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980 Digital archive of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries. Features hundreds of titles, many published bilingually in Spanish and English.

General indexes to articles – Use the “Databases A-Z” linked on the Oviatt Library home page to link to these:

Academic Search Elite (EBSCO) Abstracts to 3,000 journals (over 1,500 peer-reviewed journals), with full text to more than 2,000 of the journals. Dates may vary, most from 1985-
America: History & Life (EBSCO) Indexes 1,700 journals as well as dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada. 1964-
General OneFile (Gale) Indexes over 9,700 journals; full text to over 5,000 journals, 1980-
CountryWatch News, statistics and trends for 192 countries.
GenderWatch Publications that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas, 1970-
JSTOR Latin American Studies Comprehensive archive of back issues of core scholarly journals in Latin American studies.