History 70E

Problems in History: Middle East

Professor Mark Levine

Spring Quarter 2007

Sheila Smyth

Religion Librarian

Langson Library

smyths@uci.edu

(949) 824-47021

 

Kay Collins

History Librarian
kcollins@uci.edu
University of
California
(949) 824 – 7290

 

Guides to the Literature, Encyclopedias, and Other Reference Works

Guides, encyclopedias, and other reference works often provide the researcher with a basic introduction to a topic.  They may be a useful first step in beginning research, helpful both in acquainting the researcher with key terminology, concepts and  critical sources in the field.  The lists below are just a sampling of titles available in the Reference Collection, Langson Library, first floor.  Browse in these call number areas and/or search ANTPAC to identify other useful reference works for your topic.

 

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

 

Encyclopedia of religion. 15 vols. Detroit : Macmillan Reference USA, 2005.

Langson Ref: BL31 .E46 2005 

 

Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world. 2 vols. New York : Macmillan Reference USA : Thomson/Gale, 2004.

Langson Ref: BP40 .E525 2004 

 

The new A-Z of the Middle East. London : I. B. Tauris, 2004.

Langson Ref:   DS43 .G7413 2004 

 

The Greenwood encyclopedia of women's issues worldwide. 6 vols. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2003.

Langson Ref:  HQ1154 .G69 2003 

 

Encyclopaedia of the Qurān. 5 vols. & Index. Leiden : Brill, 2001- .

Langson Ref:  BP133 .E64 2001 

 

Political encyclopedia of the Middle East. New York : Continuum, 1999.

DS62.8 .P64 1999 

 

Encyclopedia of the modern Middle East. 4 vols. New York : Macmillan Reference USA, 1996.

Langson Ref: DS43 .E53 1996 

 

The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world. 4 vols. New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.

Langson Ref: DS35.53 .O95 1995 

 

The Cambridge encyclopedia of the Middle East and North Africa. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1988.

DS44 .C37 1988      

 

Other Reference Materials

 

Muslim cultures today : a reference guide. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2006.

DS35.62 .M88 2006 

 

A companion to the history of the Middle East. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub. Ltd, 2005.

DS62 .C63 2005    

 

The rise of Islam. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2005.

 BP55 .G67 2005    

 

The Islamic world : past and present. 3 vols. New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.

Langson Ref: DS35.53 .I86 2004 

 

Historical atlas of Islam. Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2004.

Langson Ref: G1786.S1 R9 2004   

 

Muslim women throughout the world : a bibliography. Boulder, Colo. : Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1997.

HQ1170 .K56 1997 

 

Historical atlas of the Middle East.  G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville.  New York : Simon & Schuster, 1993.

Langson Ref: G2206.S1 F7 1993

 

Finding Books

  • ANTPAC --to locate books at UCI
  • Melvyl -- to locate books at all the UC Libraries.  Expands your search.  Use "Request" button to have a book send to you at UCI. 
  • WorldCat -- to identify books which may not be in the UC system.  Use the Interlibrary Loan Request Form on ANTPAC to request copies on ILL.

Search Tips

 

  • Pick a topic of interest on the subject of Islam in the Middle East.
  • Write a brief Problem Statement, define your topic and note “keywords” that describe the research question of interest to you.
  • Do a keyword search. 
  • Combining Search terms: Using  AND between term will give you a smaller set of retrievals, while using OR will give you more retrievals.
  • Display the full records for relevant titles.

            Look at the LCSH (Library of Congress Subject Headings). This will help you  

            identify specific subject headings used to describe the book.  You can click on

            those and then this will create a new search with those words.

  • Keep a list of helpful keywords and subject headings.
  • Diagram your topic: what? who? when? where? even why?
  • As you read and find new terms, you may have to go back and do more searches on the new terms. Beware that terms may have changed over time.
  • If you are searching ANTPAC each record will provide the UCI Libraries location, call number and circulation status.
  • Use available search options to combine terms and/or limit terms (to date, language, format, etc.). Use available output options e.g. , email? Download? print?

 

 

A Selection of Subject Headings:

 

Middle East -- Politics And Government

Middle East -- History

Political parties -- Middle East

Islamic countries

Islam – History

Islamic countries -- Social life and customs -- 21st century

Islam and state -- Middle East

Islam -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800

Muslim women -- Iran -- Social conditions

Islam -- Economic aspects

Islamic Empire -- Politics and government

Christianity and other religions -- Islam

Islam -- Relations -- Judaism

Islam -- Theology

Sufism

Muslims

Orientalism

Ibn Batuta, 1304-1377

Religion and culture -- Middle East

Muammad, Prophet, d. 632

Quran

Koran

 

Databases for Locating Journal Articles

 

Many of the following resources and more can be found on these two subject guides:

 

History Subject Guide:

 

Religious Studies Subject Guide:

 

 

Historical Abstracts:

Premier index to articles about the history of the world, except for U.S., Canada and Mexico.

 

ATLA Religion Database:

Citations in all scholarly fields of religion: biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religious perspectives on social issues. More than one million bibliographic records covering the research literature of religion in more than 34 languages. More than 350,000 article citations from 1,400 journals, more than 150,000 essay citations from 14,000 multi-author works, and nearly 350,000 book review citations.

 

Index Islamicus: 

The primary, international classified bibliography of publications in European languages on all aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, extensive name and subject indices.

 

Web of Science:

Multidisciplinary index to scholarly articles and publications. In addition to citation and abstract, the bibliography of the cited articles is supplied, often with  links to that article citation.

 

JSTOR:

Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities and social sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each title.

 

Project Muse:  

To eventually provide full-text online access to all journals published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Disciplines covered are humanities, social sciences, and mathematics. A brief bibliographic description of each title is given.

 

PCI Full Text:

Indexes periodicals from the humanities and social sciences. To search, enter the title of the book in the "Article title keyword" field. N.B. this database stops coverage in 1995. Contains journals such as Islamic quarterly, Middle Eastern studies, Middle East journal, and The Muslim world  which have articles on Islam and the Middle East.

 

FRANCIS (humanities & social sciences): 

A multilingual multidisciplinary database indexing books and journal articles in the humanities social sciences and economics. It is strong in religion, the history of art, and literature with particular emphasis on current trends in European and world literature. Most items have abstracts.

 

PAIS International:

Indexes social science public policy articles around the world.

 

ProQuest Digital Dissertations:

Provides subject, title, and author access to almost all American dissertations accepted at an accredited institution since 1861. Masters theses have been selectively indexed since 1962. Abstracts are included for doctoral dissertation records from July 1980 to the present. In addition, the database serves to disseminate citations for thousands of Canadian dissertations and an increasing number of papers accepted in institutions abroad. Professional (e.g., M.D., LL.D.) and honorary degrees are not included. UCI dissertations can be searched for in ANTPAC using LD 791.9 and the subsequent numbers relate to the main subject area of the thesis and a table of these numbers is located on the Special Collections and Archives page: http://www.lib.uci.edu/libraries/collections/special/tdcallnumber.html

 

Search Tips

 

Combining Search terms: Using  AND between term will give you a smaller set of retrievals, while using OR will give you more retrievals.

 

Use available search options to combine terms and/or limit terms (to date, language, format, etc.). Use available output options e.g. , email? Download? print? .

 

If necessary use any help screens to learn more about the features of a database.

 

To locate the Journal articles click on the UC-eLinks button. UC- eLinksconnects from the article citation to the UC holdings if UCI has access to a Fulltext copy of the article online.

ANTPAC catalog – Journal (print or electronic), if UCI owns it.

Interlibrary Loan - Journal article if not owned by UCI.

ASK a Librarian - for additional assistance.

 

Evaluate results. Mark the ones of interest. View marked items. Cite using appropriate style manual and e-mail articles to you. To create a bibliography or list of references use Refworks (http://www.refworks.com). Free and easy to set up an account. Works with most databases so you can easily import citations into Refworks and have this program format the citations in the appropriate style manual (e.g. MLA and APA).

 

Primary Resources

 

Primary sources are firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic under investigation.  The nature and value of a source cannot be determined without reference to the topic and questions it is meant to answer.  The same document, or other piece of evidence, may be a primary source in one investigation and secondary in another.  The search for primary sources does not, therefore, automatically include or exclude any format of research materials or type of records, documents, or publications. Primary sources typically can include archives and manuscript material, photographs, letters and diaries, scrapbooks, newspapers and clippings, government publications, oral histories, magazines, published books, printed ephemera, and video and audio recordings.

 

Library of Congress finding aids:
A search interface to find all the finding aids at the Library of Congress.

 

Center for Research Libraries:
Gives access to various good collections in religious studies.

 

National Archives and Records Administration:
Has the online catalog of NARA's nationwide holdings in the Washington, DC area, Regional Archives and Presidential Libraries.
Provides online access to over 50 million historical electronic records organized in over 350 databases created by some 20 Federal agencies. Information in the databases covers a wide variety of topics.

 

Repositories of Primary Resources:
A listing of over 5000 websites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar. All links have been tested for correctness and appropriateness.
Links added or revised within the last thirty days or so are marked {New}. Please use this form or e-mail to add entries, provide corrections, or make comments on its utility. Those who have recently submitted new and revised entries are acknowledged. Guidelines for the inclusion of sites on this list are available.

 

Online Archive of California:
This archive covers all UC special collection archives plus those of many ohter institutions in California. It includes some full-text documents, images, and guides to other collections not yet online.

 

 

UCI Special Collections:

The books that are in Special Collections ( 5th floor Langson Library) can be located through your searches of ANTPAC.  The location would indicate Special Collections. A keyword search under Jesuits with a limitation of location to Special Collections would help identify these materials. They do not check out and must be used in the  Special Collections Reading Room.

 

Microforms:

There are microfilms having to do with Buddhism on the first floor in the Microfilm area. There is a finding aid on the shelves near these microfilm drawers. There is also a microform reader near the microform drawers from which you can burn articles on a CD or print them out. If you need help with microforms go to the reference desk on the first floor Langson Library. A simple way to locate microfilms at UCI is to search for  your topic in the ANTPAC catalog advanced search mode and limit your search to location: Langson Microforms.

 

Newspapers:

 

Historical newspapers: Online indexing of the Times London from 1790 1980 and the New York times from 1851 September 1922 Indexes can be searched individually or in combination by names events and subjects with Boolean proximity wildcard and truncation search operators.

 

Access World News: 

Access World News from NewsBank provides full text information and perspectives from over 600 U S and over 700 international sources each with its own distinctive focus offering diverse viewpoints on local regional and world issues Date coverage varies with individual newspaper.  You can access the American Imprints (listed above under databases) from this interface.

 

Videos:

Videos at UCI are located in the Multimedia resource center across from the reference desk on the first floor of the Langson Library. Many videos located at other institutes can not be loaned to UCI due to restrictions set by the producers.

 

 A simple way to locate films at UCI is to search for  your topic in the ANTPAC catalog advanced search mode and limit your search to location: Langson - Multimedia resource center and/or Material type: film/video.

 

Film index international:


American Film Institute (AFI) Catalog: