Africana Studies

Reference books are helpful starting places if you need:

1. An overview of topic, person, place, or event.
2. To browse for topic ideas.
3. Help with focusing or narrowing your topic.
4. A list of core resources for your topic. Many reference books provide a short bibliography and/or suggested scholarly readings. These readings usually represent the best scholarship for the topic at hand up to the time the reference work was published.

Wikipedia can be considered a reference source, but, because the content in Wikipedia can be created by anyone, it has not been entirely accepted by the scholarly community as yet. (Traditionally published reference sources are vetted by scholars, generally.) Read Wikipedia articles with a critical eye in order to detect bias.

Wikipedia articles can be very helpful, however, because they often contain links to external content and additional references listed at the end.

Credo Reference is a collection of quality reference ebooks. Search by keyword to discover reference articles about your topic. 

Try some of the following sources too. 

U.S. Focus:

• Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, Seymour REF E185.E54 1996
• Encyclopedia of African American Society
• Encyclopedia of Black Studies

Africa Focus:

• Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, Seymour Main Stacks DT351.E53 1997
• Encyclopedia of African History
• Encyclopedia of South Africa

In addition, there are many more subject encyclopedias in specific disciplines (literature, music, etc.) that may have relevant material for your topic. Consult Laurie Sauer, librarian liaison to the Africana Studies program.