Sourcepack
English 1000 Foreign Countries and Culture
Instructor: Caitlin L. Kelly
Librarian: Sandy Schiefer
Some research tricks
- Clarify your questions and the types of information you need to answer them.
- Think about where types of information are typically published.
- Use a variety of words: culture, language, history
- Use truncation to find word variants: geograph* = geography, geographic, etc.
- Use both broad and narrow terms.
- Examine records for subject headings or descriptors.
- Put OR between words to search for more.
- Put AND between words to narrow your results.
- Search authors with surname first for more precision.
Library Research Guides
International Government Guide
International/Foreign Countries
Finding Books
- The MERLIN catalog shows materials in the MU Libraries.
- The MOBIUS catalog shows materials from Missouri academic libraries.
- WorldCat shows materials from many libraries worldwide.
- Google Books searches the text of books cover-to-cover. Look for the Find this book in a library link in the right sidebar when the full text is not available online.
Useful Books
- The Statesman's year-book is a statistical and historical annual of the states of the world.(print)
- Gale Virtual Reference Library, limit to subject area "Nation and World" (e-book)
Finding Articles
Use these databases to identify articles on your topic:
- LexisNexis Academic offers access to the full-text of current and back issues of major newspapers, journals, newsletters, and news sources from around the world
- EIU Country Reports and EIU Country Profiles are both good resources. EIU Country Reports analyses political and economic trends in over 200 countries. Each report examines and explains the issues shaping the countries: the political scene, economic policy, the domestic economy and foreign trade and payments. EIU Country Profiles provides background information on the economic and political situations of over 200 countries.
- PAIS Covers the full range of political, social, and public policy issues, including economic, political, and social issues, business, finance, law, international trade and relations, public administration, government, political science, and any topics that are or might become the subject of legislations
Click on 
to locate a copy of the article online, in the library, or through ILL@MU.
Useful Websites
- Background Notes (US Department of State)
- Countries and Territories (New York Times)
- FAO Country Profiles and Mapping Information
- Global Gateway (Library of Congress)
To find your way around Ellis Library
This SOURCEPACK is a service of Ellis Library