Beginning your Research
Finding resources on Latin American history and culture in the library's resources including books, journals, in the university's special collections, and in multimedia formats starts with searching the library's catalog. The Bertrand Library holds and has access to millions of great resources including books like those listed in your course syllabus, scholarly journal articles on Latin American history, archival and special collections at Bucknell and beyond, images and audio-visual materials, and items that also may be written or spoken in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese. Please reach out if you're having issues with topic selection, finding resources within the scope of your topic, or just need advice on where to start by using the "Ask a Question!" or "Meet with a Librarian" tools available on this page.
A good way to start searching for books is to use the WorldCat search bar at the top of this page, which allows you to search Bertrand Library's holding and beyond. You can use the filters on the top of the search bar to search just for books, as well as for other types of resources such as articles and multimedia items.
To locate academic journal articles, you can use the various databases listed on the "A-Z Databases" page or search for individual journal title on the "A-Z journals" page of the library's website.
You can also consult Google Scholar to find scholarly materials in journals, books, and other sources, which will display Bucknell's full-text access if Library Link is enabled. For news articles, consult the library's News Sources guide.
Government information from Latin America includes presidential messages, statements of public policy, and government produced statistics about country and its activities. U.S. government information (particularly hearings and State Department documents) contain a wealth of information about U.S. relations with Latin America. Consult the library's U.S. Government Information guide.
There are also many online resources related to the socio-economic and political histories of Latin American countries throughout time that can be found in specific databases linked in the 'databases' tab, as well as websites overseen by International Organizations such as the United Nations and many regional cooperative organizations in Mexico and Central America, or developed by Latin American scholars and community members.
Data (statistics, data sets/ public opinion surveys, etc.) are important sources to use to support ideas you put forth. Consult the library's Data Sources guides.
For tutorials and more information on locating resources in the databases and journals available to the Bucknell community, visit the "Library Tutorials for Students-Information Resources" research guide
